Dilemmas of the PerpliXing
by hauntednunchucks
Summary: iX Ozone is an overachieving pegasus, going to university two years early. One day, some time after his foster sister Fluttershy moved out, Ozone decides to visit her. Believe it or not, that day will have changed his life forever.
1. Chapter 1

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro, Studio B Productions, and Lauren Faust (like a faust).

Dilemmas of the PerpliXing

Chapter 1

Life? It's okay, I guess. About seven years ago, I took a trip to Ponyville. That trip changed my life forever. I made a lot of new friends, and even made my first best friend! It was because my sister Fluttershy wasn't being social enough, and what better place to be social than Ponyville? All the ponies there are nice and friendly.

That was seven years ago, and at this point in time, Fluttershy had decided to move to the tree home we stayed at during our visit to Ponyville and live in it the year after. The Cakes are her legal guardians.

Rainbow got a part-time job as a weather pegasus last summer, after she turned 14. She still goes to school so she can't be full-time. She figured she should get a job now, and have the bits saved up for later. I graduated high school at 14 (for some weird reason, I already knew everything we were learning. I even looked through the twelfth grade textbooks and understood everything) and got accepted into Canterlot's University of the Sciences the year after. I majored in astronomy, and my minor was biology. Right now, it's summer break after my first year there.

Rainbow and I have become really close over the past few years. She's more than just a friend; she's my sister. There's a sad story behind that, but I won't get into it. I don't really talk to Fluttershy anymore, since she kind of lives on the ground now, along with the fact that I have absolutely no spare time because of school.

We were sitting at our kitchen table, and Rainbow decided to break the awkward silence.

"I'm planning in moving out in a couple of years," Rainbow told me.

"Really? Are you gonna go to some kind of college or anything?"

"Nah. I've had enough of school. Oh, that reminds me. How's your school?"

"At least three parties a _week_." I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Wow, I'm impressed. You getting into the university life, or are you in it for the parties?"

"University is pretty cool. I met a couple ponies who have some connections."

"Connections?" She nodded in approval. I heard Rainbow's alarm go off in her watch. She looked at it and sighed. "Horsefeathers, I forgot! I have to help make a rainstorm for Sweet Apple Acres. I'm gonna be gone for a while. See ya when I get back!" She gave me a quick hug, put on her uniform, and then ran out the door. I sighed; I've never seen her so dedicated to something before. She must really want the bits.

"That girl doesn't slow down for anything, does she?" I turned and saw Mom coming out of her bedroom, shaking her head. "Didn't even get breakfast."

"Morning, Mom," I said with a smile.

[-]

Rainbow came home later that evening - a little later than normal - with an unreadable expression on her face. She went upstairs for a few minutes, then came back holding her uniform.

"Rainbow, what happened? And why did you take so long?"

Rainbow hung up her uniform and looked at me. "I, uh… went to see Fluttershy. After I was done with the storm."

"Really? That's cool. How is she?"

"She's awful."

That took me by surprise. I thought going to live in Ponyville was going to help her. "Why? What's up?"

"She's still really lonely. Even with all the friends she's made over the years, she misses us a lot. She was upset about us not visiting her. I told her that we were just really busy, me with my job and you speeding through school. She understood, but was still really sad that she couldn't see us anymore."

I can't believe myself. I had completely forgotten about Fluttershy with all my schoolwork keeping me busy. _Now I just feel guilty._

"Ozone, I wanna move to Ponyville."

I could see why. Family is family, even if it's adopted. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just stuck with "Go ahead."

It was two days later that she moved out.

I can honestly narrate that I spent the rest of that night crying. It hurt to watch her go, but I knew it was for the better. I can never find the time to visit Fluttershy or Rainbow; one of us is always busy when the other is free. It's like Junior Speedsters all over again.

[-]

It's been two months since I was left alone. School is about to start up again, and I decided to take a walk through Equestria's outskirts. It's basically a giant field around Equestria. It has the most beautiful flowers in the world. Fluttershy would've loved this.

"Fluttershy…" I said to myself quietly. I sighed. It's been ages since I talked to her. I know where she is, so why don't I visit her? It couldn't do any harm. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I turned in the direction I was pretty sure Ponyville was in and started walking. I ended up in a really big forest. I was pretty sure that it wasn't the Everfree Forest, but it was still creepy. I heard rustling to my left, and as soon as I looked, I saw a hoof, and it hit my head. The force was so strong, I was knocked out.

[-]

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Gilda»

_Ugh, I hate my dad_. I needed to get out of there.

My dad and I aren't exactly on speaking terms. He likes to get drunk and yell at me constantly. Today was no different. I wasn't running away, I had nowhere to go. I simply needed to get away from him for a bit. As much as I hate him, I stay there because I have nowhere else to go. My mom died shortly after giving birth to me.

Today, he yelled at me because I tried to write to Rainbow Dash. Again. I was going to congratulate her for getting her promotion. Dad doesn't like the idea of me being friends with a pony. He sent me to Junior Speeders as a punishment; he didn't expect me to actually make friends. So when I tried to write to Dash, he would take the letter, crumple it up, throw it away, and yell at me. That's what happened today.

I was flying over an Equestrian forest (they were always so quiet, nothing was ever there), when I heard really loud rustling and completely blew up my thought train. _Hmm, that's weird_. I didn't think anything was down there, so that's why I was surprised. I figured it had to be something pretty big to make such a loud noise, so I flew down and into the forest to see what it was. I heard hoofsteps to the east, and they were pretty fast. There was definitely more than one, probably three. I didn't follow them; I had a better chance at going the opposite direction and seeing what the ponies were running from. I started heading west, slowly. I looked around and didn't see anything at first, but after I kept going for a few more minutes, I found a pony. It was definitely a stallion; the facial structure is nothing like a mare's. His physical condition was pretty much in check, except for two things. He only had his left wing, and was bleeding put of his right wing socket.

But this wing wasn't like any old pegasus wing. In fact, it looked bigger than even Princess Celestia's wings. It didn't match his coat color, either; it was black, the rest of his coat was tan. The wing's structure was similar to an alicorn such as Princess Celestia, but it's marginal wing coverts were inverted.

_Wait, this guy looks really familiar_. He had a tan coat, Rainbow Dash-styled mane, and short tail. _I think I met him at camp… That's it! His name is iX Ozone, Rainbow Dash's adopted brother. But it's weird; I thought he had a teal mane. _This Ozone had a gray mane with a stripe of even darker gray in the mix_. Wait, that doesn't matter right now. What's he doing here? What should I do? Should I get help?_ I looked at him and decided against leaving him here like this. His wing didn't look broken exactly, but it was definitely limp. The blood rushing out of his right wing socket seemed like too much for anything to handle by themselves. His eyes were closed and his mouth was open. I could just barely hear him breathing, but his breaths sounded strained and weak. The nearest civilization isn't for a while, so it would take a really long time for help to come. I sighed, realizing there was no other option. "I have to carry him, don't I?"

And that's exactly what I did. I picked him up and wrapped him in my arms and took off. After reaching a pretty high altitude, I looked around for the nearest civilization. I found that Canterlot was the closest place. I looked at Ozone. His breathing wasn't doing any better than before, but he was definitely more relaxed. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but I stopped thinking about that and headed straight for Canterlot.

It was about three o'clock when I found Ozone. I didn't know how long I was wandering the city trying to find the hospital, but it took a really long time. I ended up having to ask some stallion where it was. He pointed towards its location. I thanked him and ran straight for it.

I burst through the double doors of the hospital, and all eyes were locked on me and the pony I was holding. I shook my head and screamed, asking for help. They were a little slow to react to the sudden outburst, but a mare doctor used her magic to levitate Ozone out of my hands. When she did, there was something about her face that just seemed… off. I don't know what, but it didn't give a good vibe. She grabbed three other doctors and headed for the emergency room. I saw them put him on one of those operating tables, and then the door closed.

I just stood there, for what I learned was a half an hour, gasping for breath. I hadn't realized how much effort it took to get to Canterlot. I decided to take a seat a couple seats away from a light blue unicorn. I looked at myself, and just like I suspected, I was covered in Ozone's blood. I thought about heading home and cleaning up, but the mare that took Ozone into the room came back out. She had a lavender coat, white medical coat, and a black mane with a neon green stripe. She introduced herself as Nurse Summer and asked me if I knew where to contact a member of his family.

"Sorry. I only know one of his sisters, and I haven't been able to talk to her in years."

She sighed. "Well, I have to tell someone…" She breathed in. "It appears he's had some sort of magic-inducing compound infused into him. We can't conclude anything past that. This is very strange. When we tried to go deeper, the compound put him into a coma, possibly some sort of defensive mechanism. If you anything about comas, you should know they are unpredictable. He could wake up in a day, he could wake up in a week, he could wake up in a month, he could wake up in a year, and he could never wake up. And the fact that he only has one wing furthers our confusion. There is absolutely no trace of a right wing structure, and the wound goes so deep we could touch his spine without any sort of difficulty. I asked Princess Celestia to come and examine him, but for now, the only thing anyone can do is wait. Sorry."

_Wow._ That was the only thought going through my head at the moment. I couldn't believe what was happening. My friend was in a coma. I mean, sure, we weren't best friends, but I could have changed that. I had the chance but I didn't take it. And in all those letters I (successfully) sent to Rainbow, I never asked how he was doing. _Now I feel really bad. If he never wakes up, I'll never be able to tell him how much he means to me…_

Wait, what am I narrating? _It's not like I love him or anything. It's just that… Ugh, stupid teenage brain._

I asked Nurse Summer if I could see Ozone myself. She told me to wait in the waiting room until Princess Celestia came. I walked into the waiting room and sat down next to a blue mare with hair that looked like a certain kind of toothpaste. I couldn't put my talon on it, though.

[-]

_Ugh, why is this taking so long?_ I looked at the clock. _Twenty minutes? Feels like an hour. How long does it take for Princess Celestia to get here? I mean, her castle is in the city. _"I swear, if she isn't here-"

I couldn't finish my sentence, because the princess herself teleported in front of me. At first she had a comforting smile, but it quickly changed into a look of determination. She gestures for me to follow her, which I did. We walked into the room that held Ozone, and I couldn't narrate how much machinery he was hooked up to. When Nurse Summer saw the princess, she immediately bowed.

"Please, that is not necessary at the moment. You know why I am here." At this, Nurse Summers nodded and left the room and closed the door behind her. "So, this is him?" The princess asked me. I nodded. "He looks so different."

"Wait, you know him?" I asked.

"Yes. I recommended him to the Canterlot University of the Sciences. He is such a good student, graduated high school two years early, and was very fascinated with astronomy."

"Wow, I didn't know that's what he was up to since we last met."

"Yes, he is definitely a pony worth the fuss. How exactly did this happen?"

"Well, I don't really know what happened. I left my house because my dad was being a pain again, and I was flying over the outskirts of Equestria. I heard rustling in the forest, and when I investigated, I saw him. I picked him up and flew straight over here."

"Alright. Just give me a few minutes. I'm going to try to examine his mental condition and give you an estimate on how much longer he will be asleep."

"Okay," I turned to Ozone. "Don't worry. We'll find out what's happening to you. Then everything can go back to normal," I thought about what I said. "Scratch that. How about everything can take a turn for the better?"

Satisfied, I stepped out of the way so the princess had full access to Ozone. She touched her horn to his head and soon, her horn started to glow. Within seconds, she was already showing signs of strain. Her eyes were twitching under her eyelids, and she was sweating a lot. She took no longer than two minutes before she almost collapsed from the strain. I caught her before she could fall though, and I could feel her muscles shaking because she was so weak.

"Are you okay? Do you need water or something?" I asked.

"No… no thank you, I'm fine." She stayed in my arms for a minute, gasping for air, and then was able to support herself. "I have some interesting results. It seems he isn't in a coma. The compound has simply put him to sleep to make it easier to heal. He will be asleep for a little less than a year, and should be fully capable of wing usage a month after."

I felt a smile creep onto my beak. Even though he would be asleep for a year, at least he was sure to wake up. That alone made me happy. But then I frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Princess Celestia asked me.

"It's just… what am I gonna do for a year? I've got no life, no job," I looked at Ozone, "no friends…"

"Maybe you could just visit him every day. I think he would appreciate it if he knew one of his friends were visiting him."

I looked at him, then at this wing. It definitely looked a lot better. The feathers were in place, and looked almost polished. I looked at the princess's wing, then back at his.

"A thing of beauty, isn't it?" I heard her ask.

"The wing?"

"Yes. A wing like that doesn't come around every day. It's even bigger than mine. I'd say whatever magic that compound gave him, it could equal that of my most faithful student, who is a unicorn of many talents."

"You can tell how much magic he has by the size of his wing?"

"I can only assume. But given the circumstances, I would not be surprised if that were the case." Princess Celestia looked at the clock. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm afraid I have to leave. Remember what I said about visiting him. I'll make sure they let you in at whatever hour you please. Also, go home and wash up. Blood is a tough thing to scrub out if it gets too dry."

I thanked her, and then she left. I looked at Ozone. I heard the steady beeping of the machine that read his heartbeat. "Looks like you got yourself a regular."

And so I started visiting everyday after that. It wasn't hard to visit him; sneaking out is one of my talents. Dad would kill me if he knew I was taking the time to visit a pony in the hospital, especially one in Canterlot. But even if I did get caught, it would totally be worth it.

The next day, after replacing his bandages, they unhooked him from all that machinery. It wasn't necessary; he was healing just fine on his own. "He's a tough pony," I said. "and now he's even tougher."

96 DAYS LATER

"It's me, Gilda. Happy sixteenth birthday!" I came into the room with a slice of cake and a huge smile. "You didn't think I forgot your birthday, did you? Especially when it's your sixteenth! This is probably one of the most important days of your life," The smile I wore began to fade. "And look at you, you're spending it in a coma..." I began to tear up a little, but I held myself together. "That just means I need to enjoy it for you!" I looked down at the cake in my claw. "I got the cake from the local bakery," I took a bite out of it. "And I have to say, it's delicious! Once you wake up, I'm definitely buying this for you one day." I continued to look at Ozone and eat the cake. "I gave the rest of the cake to the hospital staff. I said I couldn't eat it all by myself, and that I insisted they have it. So they took it without hesitation. I guess they were familiar with how good this stuff is," I took another bite. "Looking back on it, I should have kept the cake." I giggled a little and took another bite, only to hear the sound of metal against glass. I looked down, and say that the plate was empty. "Well, looks like I'm all out of cake. I'm gonna head out. See you tomorrow!" I waved, even though I knew he couldn't wave back. I smiled and left the room.

187 DAYS LATER

"Ugh, I can't believe her!" I stormed into the room and almost slammed the door shut. It was almost ten o'clock at night when I got there; I had to pick a fight with my dad to vent my anger. It wasn't as effective as I hoped it would've been. I walked next to Ozone and knelt down. "Hey Ozone, it's me, Gilda. You will not believe what happened today. I finally worked up the courage to see Rainbow Dash! Oh, but _guess what_? Turns out she made some lame-o friends and would rather hang out with them than me. I know I shouldn't judge them before I get to know them, but they were always trying to take her away from me. Especially some pink freak named 'Pinkie Pie.' I mean, yeah, she threw a party for me, but there were pranks set all over the place! You wanna know who set them? Of all ponies, Rainbow Dash herself! Like a fool, I blamed Pinkie before I even knew what was up, and that got me in deep water with Rainbow. You know what she said? She said 'Maybe you should go find some new cool friend someplace else.' The nerve!" I sighed. "Whatever, I don't need her. Once you wake up, you're the only friend I'll need. Well, you _are_ my only friend now, so you can see how that works." I cracked a smile. "Well, I guess that's all for today. Sorry for ranting in your face. I don't have anyone else to talk to about this, and even if you can't hear me, it still helps. See you tomorrow." I got up and walked out.

349 DAYS LATER

"Hey, Ozone. It's me, Gilda again. Nothing's happened. Dad's still giving me the same crap he always does. Life is actually getting boring," I looked into his closed eyes. "It's almost been a year. That means you're gonna wake up soon. I know we weren't best friends back at camp, but I promise that's all gonna change. We're gonna hang out as much as possible. I can't wait until you wake up. So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." I got up and walked away.

I would have left, if it weren't for a vaguely familiar voice that said "…Gil… da?"

POV Switch

«Gilda—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

"Come on, Fluttershy. We're gonna miss the show!"

"Yeah, get your flanks down here before I kick 'em down here! If you aren't down here in ten seconds, we're leaving without you."

"Okay, settle down. I'll be right there."

Fluttershy ran down the stairs of our house and out the door to meet Rainbow Dash and I.

"Ugh, finally! Took you long enough. What happened that made you so slow in the first place?"

I looked at Fluttershy and she was sitting with her head down, her mane covering her face. "Rainbow, would you at least try to be nice? Remember what I told you?"

"I'm sorry, but do you want to miss The Wonderbolts' last show until next season? I don't know about you, but this'll be the first time I see The Wonderbolts live and in person! I've been wanting to see them for the past couple of weeks, and now is my… I mean, our chance. Sorry if I'm a little antsy. Now that she's here we can go. The sooner the better."

I smiled. "A race then?"

"You know it."

Rainbow and I got into our starting positions. I looked over at Rainbow. She looked at me. She smiled.

Then disintegrated.

_Did I just see that? Rainbow just… turned into dust!_ I looked at Fluttershy and was about to ask her if she saw that, but she turned to dust and was swept away with the sudden wind.

I looked around; everything was being disintegrated by an invisible wind. I started to panic; I didn't know what was going on. I felt the ground slowly turn to dust, too; time was running out. What do I do? I decided there was only one option.

I jumped off the cloud as quickly as possible and used my wings as a boost. As I left, I saw it turn to nothing. In an instant, everything faded to white. I closed my eyes; the light was too bright. _Hey, I though gravity was supposed to bring me down, not up. What gives?_

All of a sudden, I heard a voice. It was female. She said "So, I'll see you tomorrow." I had been hearing that voice everyday for almost a year. It sounded like she was talking to me, and only I could hear her. All of a sudden, that voice started to sound very familiar. Then, all at once I realized who that was_. Wait, is that…_

"…Gil… da?"

I opened my eyes, and was greeted by that bright light again. I quickly shut them and covered my face with my hoof. I groaned at the light and cursed its brightness. After I realized I couldn't escape it, I slowly opened my eyes. I had to blink a few times to get used to the light, but I finally knew where I was.

I was in a hospital. Four white walls, white bed, white everything. I inched myself up so that I was on my haunches. I felt a weird feeling in my back, and when I reached to touch it, I found that it was wrapped in a bandage. It seemed to be covering my right wing. _Man, what happened? I know I took that nasty blow to the head, but it looks like only my torso is bandaged._ However, before I could inspect any further, I heard hoofsteps across the room. I looked up, and saw three faces. One was unreadable, one had a content smile, and one was a blur because the body it was attached to was bouncing up and down at an unusual speed. That one was Gilda. She ran over and jumped on me, hugging me really tight.

"Ozone, you're awake! You're finally awake! I'm so happy! I was so worried about you!" She hugged me for a while longer then let go and walked back to her spot between Princess Celestia and the nurse. She was crying tears of joy.

Princess Celestia stepped forward. "Yes, we are all glad you're awake. Some, a little more than others." Gilda blushed. "I would also like to make it known that this person took the time out of their schedule to see you everyday." She looked at Gilda, who was blushing even more.

"Really?" She nodded.

Princess Celestia looked back at me. "Ozone, I would also like you to meet somepony else. She has wanted to see you for an exceptionally long time. She should be here right about…"

A bright flash of light hit my eyes again, and I shielded my face. After the light faded, I uncovered my face and started in awe at the pony in front of my bed.

It was Princess Luna.

"… Now." She finished with a smile.

I couldn't stop staring at her. It was so unreal. I had read about her in Ancient Equestrian History. She was Princess Celestia's little sister that controlled the night. One day, she got jealous of Princess Celestia because she felt her night's beauty was overlooked. She transformed into this being called "Nightmare Moon" and tried to cast the world into eternal night. Luckily, Princess Celestia was able to use the Elements of Harmony to seal her in the moon. From what I learned, on the thousandth day of the thousandth year, the stars would aid her escape. I guess that's what happened. However, this didn't look like Nightmare Moon; it looked like regular old Princess Luna.

"Wow, what did I miss?" I asked.

Princess Luna was gasping for air; I guess teleporting takes a lot out of a pony. She looked at me and reacted exactly like Gilda. She wore a huge smile, jumped onto my bed, and hugged me with all her strength.

Except she wouldn't let go.

"Princess Luna? You can, uh… stop now."

"Oh, sorry." She got off but stayed next to me with a big smile. "So, how much do you remember?"

I cocked my head. "Remember what?"

Her smile twitched. "Us!"

"What do you mean?"

Her smile was slowly leaving her face. "You don't remember? But… we were best friends… "

"That's impossible. I was born while you were still on the moon."

There was a long silence. By now she wasn't smiling anymore. In fact, she looked close to tears.

"Uh, come on, you two. Let's leave them alone for a bit." Gilda suggested. The nurse and the princess nodded and left. I looked at the nurse, and she looked at me. As soon as we made eye contact, my head started to hurt. She looked so familiar, too. When she left, she took the pain with her. After they closed the door, silent tears left Princess Luna's eyes.

"Princess, are you-"

She cut me off. "You never used my title when you talked to me."

"So, you want me to call you just Luna?"

Se nodded. "Please."

"Okay, _Luna_. So, can you please explain to me why you think I'm your best friend?"

She hung her head and cried more. "We _are_ best friends. Well, I guess it's more of a '_were'_ now. We would hang out every night and just look at the stars for hours on end. And then you…" She gasped and covered her mouth with her hooves. "I'm sorry. Big sister said not to tell you what happened yet. So for now, here's all you need to know: we have been best friends for almost three years and every night we sit at the top of our favorite hill and look at the stars." She gestured towards the window. "Look outside."

I didn't know where that came from, but I did what I was told, and saw the night sky. It was beautiful. I turned to Luna. "It's amazing. I can see every little detail. Did you do this?"

She smiled again. "Big sister said you had woken up, so I made sure that the night was beautiful for you. We _were_ best friends after all."

"Were?"

"Well, I just kind of thought…"

"No, nononononono! Of course I wanna be your best friend! If you say that we were, then I completely believe you."

"You trust me? Just like that?"

I smiled. "Well, we _are_ best friends." This earned me a huge smile and another hug from Luna. This time, I hugged back.

It was a whole minute until we let go of each other. Luna then got up. "Well, I hope to see you soon." She was about to walk out but then turned to me with a huge smile. "I just remembered; I will see you soon! Big sister said something about sending us somewhere, but I wasn't paying attention. The only part I heard was 'You and Ozone will be…' and then I started jumping like a school filly. Well, enough of my ramblings. See you when you get out!"

She happily skipped out of the room. I was left alone with my thoughts. So, she's the princess and my best friend? What, is she my mom, too? Boy, would that be a twist. _Now, back to my wings…_

I felt my side, and I couldn't even feel my right wing. _They must have wrapped it pretty tight._ I looked at my left wing. I was surprised to see that it was over twice its normal size. It was also jet-black. I also had an arc in its outer-joint-thing. _Whoa! This is so cool! Why does my wing look like this? Who cares, this is amazing!_

As I was checking out my wing, I started to be able to hear the others talking outside. I know I shouldn't be doing this, but... I got out of bed and started for the door. Like I suspected, I don't have any problems except for my torso. I held my ear up against the door so I could hear them better.

"So, how come he only had one wing? Last time I remember seeing him, he had two normal wings. Not one godlike wing. What happened?" That voice sounded like Luna. _Wait, I only have one wing? I guess that explains why I can't feel the other._

"We don't know. Gilda found him like that. Right?" That one was Princess Celestia.

"Yeah! I mean, I heard hoofsteps going the opposite way, maybe that had something to do with it." That one was Gilda.

"Big sister, do you think…" Luna began.

"I'm afraid so."

"Wait, what's happening? Why can't you tell us?" Gilda asked.

"Because, he's already heard enough to know something's up. I don't want him to know what really happened yet."

"Wait, what do you mean 'he's already heard enough'?"

"He's eavesdropping on us right now."

After hearing that I decided I had enough with that and rushed into my bed. They didn't come in, though; I sort of stumbled on the way to my bed, and it made a loud noise. _Maybe some rest will do me good._

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Luna»

After hearing him stumble back to his bed, I felt that it wasn't necessary to press the issue any further. I turned to big sister. "So, should we go?"

She smiled a bit. "Yes, there isn't a thing more we can do here." She turned to Gilda and the nurse. "I'm afraid it's time for us to leave. I hope Ozone gets better fast. We all missed him at the university."

I nodded in agreement and teleported out of the hospital.

We appeared in the castle's study. I immediately turned to big sister.

"What the hay? I haven't seen him in a thousand years, and you can't let me tell him what happened? He needs to know where he really came from, how much danger he's in," I lowered my head. "How much he means to me…"

"Luna, I know your upset by my decision, but just think about it. He just woke up from a coma. Rushing him into things like this isn't the best thing right now. Just give it time."

"How long?"

She sighed and walked towards a window. She stared out the window as she thought. "I'm going to send you two to Ponyville. I was going to do it last year, but… well, you know."

"So that's what you were going on about earlier."

"Yes, you two will be staying with Twilight Sparkle, since that's where Ozone was originally supposed to stay."

"So, why am I going?"

"Because your big sister knows you can't spend more than an hour not thinking about him, and even less away from him. If I sent him away, you would end up following him anyway."

I blushed, she was right. I had fought for him and lost him once. I wasn't going to let that happen again. "So, when will we depart?"

She turned to me. "In two month from tomorrow. By then, he should be healed and able to use his wing by average pegasi standards. After that, it is up to him if he should further his abilities or not."

"So, why send him with Twilight?"

"He needed to take a break from school. I was sending him to Ponyville to spend time with his sisters and old friends he made on his initial visit. He wasn't meant to actually stay with Twilight, if that's what you were referring to. He is staying there now, though. If my suspicions are correct, she should be able to help him with his magic."

"Ozone can use magic? And what do you mean? I wasn't concerned about that."

"To your first question; yes, that is what I believe. The thing that gave him that wing probably gave him magic as well, if who I suspect the culprits to be is correct." A smile crept onto her face. "As for your second question; of course you weren't." I could practically feel the sarcasm in her voice.

My face was burning with frustration. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a hot bath before I send myself to the moon."

As I walked away, I heard big sister laughing and say "Oh come on, Luna! Don't be like that. You know I was only joking. If I seriously thought you were jealous of Twilight, I would be teasing you about how much you like him."

I ran up to her and hovered so our faces were level. "I do not like him!"

Her grin grew wider. "Really? So what do call that emotion when you can't stop think about a pony and it just drives you to the point of insanity?"

"I don't like him! He's my only friend, and I don't want to ruin that with some silly crush. Besides, he isn't immortal. He would die long before I did. It wouldn't work."

"… So you _do_ like him?"

I felt my face get hot with frustration. "Ugh!" I dropped to the ground and stomped out of the room. "I don't like him!"

"Oh, but before you go, you should know how excited Twilight was when she heard of Ozone's academic records." She started laughing again.

_One of these days, big sister. Straight to the sun._

[-]

POV Switch

«Luna—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

Physical therapy wasn't necessary. Once I was released from the hospital, I was able to use my wing just fine. However, I guess it didn't hurt to go along with it.

After the therapy, I was supposed to be heading to Ponyville with Luna. Princess Celestia gave me the semester off from the university, saying I "need to spend time with family." I didn't argue; this whole thing started with me trying to visit Fluttershy. Although, instead of staying with her, Princess Celestia is having Luna and I stay in a library with her "most faithful student," a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle. I didn't question her; she is the princess, she must have her reasons.

Gilda insisted that she come home and help me pack for the trip. Ever since I woke up, she's wanted to spend more time with me. When we got there, Mom and Dad were in tears. They apparently weren't told I was in a coma until a week after it happened. I don't know why; it should have been one of the first things to be done. I mean, I sort of understand not telling Fluttershy or Rainbow, but why not Mom and Dad?

"Oh, Ozone we're so glad you're okay!" Mom was crying onto my shoulder. Dad kept a brave face and didn't say anything, but I knew he was glad I was back.

"Mom, I have to go pack for Ponyville."

She got off me and stared at me. "You just got back and you're already leaving?" She sighed. "I guess there must be some god reason behind it."

"It's under Princess Celestia's order."

She sighed. "Well, I guess there's no defying that. Go ahead and start packing," I nodded and headed up the stairs, but then she stopped me. "Who's the griffon?"

I turned and saw her staring at Gilda. "Mom, that's Gilda. From Junior Speedsters."

"Oh, really? We never got to meet her. Is she nice?"

"Yes, she's fine. Come on, Gilda. Let's pack."

She nodded and we headed up the stairs. I unlocked my door and saw that my room hadn't changed, but it did look cleaner_. I guess Mom and Dad cleaned it for me. _I found my duffel bags and we started stuffing things in it. I decided not to bring any video games; I didn't know this pony, but I don't think she'd appreciate it if I were awake at two in the morning playing Guitar Hero in her house.

As I was packing, Gilda asked me "So, are we gonna hang out after this? I've been dying to just hang out."

"Don't worry, Gilda. I'll be back before my birthday. We can hang out all winter break. I promise, we are going to hang out more. Why don't you just come with Luna and I?"

"Well, uh… I sort of… had a fight with Rainbow Dash…"

"What? When?"

"While you were asleep. Quite a few things happened while you were asleep."

I sighed, but smiled. "If you want, you can tell me everything once I get back. I know you visited me every day with an update, but I was kind of in a coma, so I didn't really hear you."

She smiled. "Yeah."

I was going through my drawers when I found something that made me gasp.

"What's up?" Gilda asked.

I lifted the object out of the drawer. It was the Evaneighscence album Big Macintosh gave me on my first visit to Ponyville, along with the CD player Dad got me for my birthday. "Oh hey, I know Evaneighscence. I still listen to their early albums."

"Gilda, this was a gift from one of my best friends I had to leave in Ponyville."

"So, I'm guessing it has a lot of sentimental value?"

"It's my most prized possession. I wouldn't sell this to save Princess Celestia's life," I looked at the CD. "I almost forgot about this, with all my schoolwork." The memories of us started to fill my thoughts as I continued to stare at the CD. When I beat Kingdom Hearts 2 with him, when we sang Bleed It Out, and when he gave me the CD. I felt a tear slide down my cheek.

"You okay, Ozone?" I heard Gilda ask.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. It's just… there are so many good memories that came with this. His name is Big Macintosh, and when I was staying at Ponyville, we were best friends."

"Ozone, you're going to Ponyville. You know, the place where all this happened? You can go see him."

I felt myself smile a really stupid smile. "Gilda, you're a genius! Why didn't I think of that?" I ran over and hugged Gilda. "Thanks, Gilda! That's the first thing I'll do!"

"You have to finish packing, first."

"Oh, yeah."

It took almost a half an hour, but I was fully packed for the three-month vacation. _Funny, I haven't taken a vacation in eight years. Time flies when your having fun. Or in a coma._

"Now, do you have everything? Random tooth crap, random hygiene crap, and any other kind of crap?" Gilda joked.

"Yes, _mom._" I said with a smile as we walked down the stairs and hugged Mom and Dad good-bye.

"Tell Rainbow and Fluttershy we said 'hey,' got that?" Dad asked with a smile. I nodded and stepped outside. There was already a royal carriage waiting for me. The door opened and Luna was waiting for me.

"Come on, Ozone! Ponyville's waiting!"

"Coming!" I turned to Gilda and smiled. "Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it," I gave her a reassuring hug. She hugged back. I don't know what it was, but something about that hug felt… very comfortable. Maybe it was her feathers. I let go of her and waved good-bye. When she waved back, I retracted my wing (just one of many cool tricks I learned while recovering) and ran into the carriage that held my best friend. I closed the door and we started for Ponyville.

To be continued…

**Author's note**: Please review this because this is my first pony fiction and I want to know if it's any good. If this doesn't turn out to be a bust, I'll update this thing every two weeks (that is, if I can remember). If this thing needs work (and it probably does) you have to tell me, otherwise I won't know.

UPDATE: Update dates are gonna vary, so you should probably check every few days just to make sure you don't miss it.


	2. Chapter 2

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro, Studio B Productions, and Lauren Faust (like a faust).

Dilemmas of the PerpliXing

Chapter 2

As we made our descent onto Ponyville, I looked over at Luna and she smiled. "So, do you know Twilight?"

Her smile drooped a little. "She was one of the six mares who used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon. She's part of the reason I'm here instead of Nightmare. Her five best friends were all embodiments of the Elements as well, so when they combined, Nightmare Moon was defeated."

"Huh." I couldn't think of anything else to say the rest of the trip. Luckily, the trip only took a few minutes.

The chariot landed in front of a giant tree. When I stepped out, I almost dropped my bags. "We're staying in a tree?"

"Well, this is the library, after all."

"Ponyville's library is a tree? How come I never noticed this the last time I came?"

"I don't know either; it's pretty hard to miss." She turned to me and smiled. "Come on, we don't want to keep our host waiting."

I nodded and we walked up to the door. _For a library, this is a pretty tall building – er, tree. I guess because it has to support a pony._

I dropped some of my luggage to knock in the door. When it opened, a small purple dragon with green spikes answered.

"Oh, you must be Ozone. Twilight's been going crazy about meeting you. I'll go get her." He closed the door and I heard him scream "TWILIGHT! GET DOWN HERE, OZONE'S AT THE DOOR!" He reappeared at the door. "She'll be a few more seconds. Why don't you just-" He didn't get to finish, something pushed him out of the I heard a crash and an "Ow! What the hay, Twilight?"

I laughed at that. Things like that make me laugh, as long as nopony gets hurt. I looked at who replaced the dragon's place. It was a lavender mare with violet eyes. Her hair was a dark purple with a pink highlight. It kind of reminded me of Pinkie Pie. Her Cutie Mark was a… I don't really know what it was supposed to mean. It was like a six-point purple star overlapping a white one, with six little white ones surrounding it. I looked at her and smiled.

I guess we were staring at each other for a while, because I heard Luna say, "Alright, may we enter?"

Twilight blinked a few times then laughed nervously. "Y-yes, of course. Sorry." She stepped out of the way to let Luna and I enter.

It was a lot different than I thought it would be. The entire library part was on the ground level, and then the stairs that I guessed led to the house part.

"Oh, uh, here, I'll take your bags upstairs." She magicked our entire luggage and walked up the stairs. It was only a few seconds until she came back down the stairs. She walked up to me. "Hi there. My name is Twilight Sparkle."

I held out my hoof. "iX Ozone, but you can call me Ozone. Pleasure to meet you."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"You already said that."

"Oh, right." She shook my hoof and smiled. "So, uh... I heard about how you graduated high school two years early."

"Yeah. It's not something worth bragging about to everypony, though. It was hard making friends and being neck-deep in books at the same time. I rarely had any spare time during the school year."

"Same here! Except, I never really made any friends."

"Aww, that's to bad. But I'm sure you have friends now, right? I mean, come on, it's summer."

She smiled. "Actually, I do have some friends. Six best friends, to be exact."

"Cool. Can I meet them?"

She jumped with what I assumed was excitement. "Of course! Come on," She headed for the door. "Our first stop is Sugarcube Corner."

_That's cool. Maybe I'll see Pinkie._ I nodded and followed her out. I turned to Luna. "Come on, it'll be fun. I know you already know them, but I don't think it's a good idea to hang around here all day."

She sighed. "I suppose." She smiled and walked out the door. I followed her and closed the door behind me.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"I'm aware you have been here before. Did you enjoy your visit as much as I am?"

"Very much. Everypony was so friendly. My best friend lives here."

"Well that's good to hear." Twilight looked forward. "Looks like we hit our first stop."

I looked forward and saw that we were in front of the bakery.

"Hmm."

"Something wrong?" Twilight asked.

"Nothing. It's just... I know somepony here as well. Her name was-"

That was all I could say because I was tackled to the ground. I looked up and saw a pink made with a poofy magenta mane. "Hi, I've never seen you before, so that means you're new, so – wait, hold on a Pinkie Pie minute."

I smiled a really big smile when she gasped and hugged me. "I know I look a little different, but I thought you would've recognized me sooner."

She looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry, Ozone. It's just been so long since I saw you!"

"Wait, you know Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked, annoyance in her voice.

I turned to Twilight and smiled. "Well, she does know everypony."

"Not everypony." Pinkie corrected. "That would be so cool if I knew every pony in Equestria though! I could be walking on the street and say 'Hey, blah blah blah' and they would say 'Hi' back to me! I could be a sniper and just before the kill, I could say 'Hastalavista, blah blah blah" and then–"

I joined her in yelling "BOOM HEADSHOT!" We started laughing and leaned on each other for support. We don't know how long it was until we finally stopped laughing. "Pinkie, you are a riot! I missed this place do much."

"We all missed you, too. Where are you staying?"

"Luna and I are staying with Twilight in the library."

"Luna?"

I walked around Twilight and brought back Luna. "Well, you know her as 'Princess Luna.'" I turned to Luna. "Go ahead, say hi."

She stepped forward. "Uh, hi."

"Hi, Princess Luna!" They were both smiling at each other.

"Actually, It's just 'Luna' to any of Ozone's friends."

"Well, would you look at the time. We have to go to Carousel Boutique. Let's go you two."

I nodded and gestured for Luna to follow.

"Bye, Ozone. How long are you staying?"

"Until early December!"

As I walked out I heard Pinkie scream out of joy.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"So, is there anypony else who we mutually know?"

"I'm not telling. Your reaction will be funnier as we go."

She groaned as we approached Carousel Boutique. She was about to knock, but I put my hoof in the way and knocked myself. I saw her resist the urge to hit me.

The mare that opened the door looked nothing like Rarity. In fact, it wasn't even a mare; it was a filly.

"Hello, Sweetie Belle. Is your sister home?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. Let me get her." She was about to turn around, but stared at me instead. She stared at me for probably an entire minute then went inside to get her sister.

She popped back out a few seconds later, this time with Rarity in tow.

I looked her in the eyes and smiled. "Heya!"

She rubbed her chin with her hoof for a few seconds, and then gasped. My smile grew wider. "Ozone, darling! It's been a while. Please, come in."

I nodded and looked back at Twilight. Her reaction _was_ getting funnier every time. We walked inside and Rarity magicked us some tea.

"Ozone, darling. I'm so sorry it took me a minute to remember you. It's just, the last time I saw you, you were a pegasus."

"Well, that's a funny–"

"Wait, you're a pegasus?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. It's a long story that I won't repeat." I turned to Twilight. "Can you go get everypony and bring them to the library? I'm sorry I didn't get to toy with you more, but this is urgent."

She grumbled and started to leave. "Just don't go to Applejack's. I'm going there next."

It was so sudden, but I swear I saw her horn sharpen itself.

She walked out and slammed the door. I laughed a bit then turned to Rarity. "So, who's the little one?"

She turned to the filly trying to reach the yarn on top of the cabinet. "That's Sweetie Belle, my little sister. She and her two friends formed this group called the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' and they go around trying to do things that will get them their Cutie Marks."

"That's cute." I heard a crash, and saw Sweetie Belle covered in yarn.

"Sis, help! Your yarn's attacking me!"

Rarity giggled. "I'll be right back." She got up an untangled Sweetie Belle from the yarn with her magic.

"Now behave. We have a guest."

She looked at me and walked up to me. She then stared at my flank and her eyes went wide. "Whoa, that is such a cool Cutie Mark! How did you get it?"

"What are you–" I looked at my flank and discovered I did in fact have a Cutie Mark. It looked exactly like my wing.

"Whoa, I have my Cutie Mark!" I turned to Luna. "Did you notice this?"

"I don't make it my business to stare at stallions' flanks. So no, I didn't."

I turned to Rarity. "Bring her to the library. It has to do with my story."

"Alright. Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I wanna get over to Sweet Apple Acres. There are two certain ponies I want to see."

"Yes, so we must get going. Bye for now." Luna said. She turned and opened the door. "Come on, Ozone."

"Yes, _dear_." I said jokingly. I looked at Rarity, who's mouth was open. "Don't worry, that was a joke."

I followed Luna out the door.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"Come on, lighten up. We're gonna be here for a few months, you might as well get used to it."

"But–"

"No 'buts.' We're almost there, anyway."

When we arrived on the Apple property, I saw Applejack bucking trees. I can't believe I still remember that word. I walked up to her and met her eyes. I smiled. "Remember me?"

"Ah sure do! Lemme guess, yer here fer Big Macintosh?"

"Partially. Twilight was showing me around, but after I told her I knew all of her friends, she got really mad. I just came by to say I'm actually gonna be here until early December."

"Well tha's great! Ah can't wait fer ya ta hear all of our adventures after the whole Nightmare Moon incident."

At this, Luna seized the opportunity and appeared right between Applejack and I. She waited a few seconds and said "Hey!"

Applejack jumped in surprise. "Ozone, why–"

"Long story. Meet us back at the library."

"Well, alright. If ya want Big Macintosh, he's behind the barn."

"Thanks, Applejack. See ya later!"

With Luna in tow, we ran behind the barn. Like Applejack said, Big Macintosh was here, although he wasn't really doing anything. He was just standing there. Even better was the fact that he was facing away.

I had to do it; there wasn't any other choice. I crept up behind him until I was mere inches from his ear. I then took a step closer and said "SCREEE!" He jumped about a mile backwards. He looked angry, but when he saw me, he still charged me. But instead of it being out of rage, it was out of realization. When we made contact, I was knocked backwards and onto my rump. Big Macintosh was hugging me so tightly it was comparable to Pinkie Pie's hug.

"Ozone, Ah missed you! First Fluttershy came, then Rainbow Dash. I was waiting for you to come, too. Your finally here, though." I felt him crying.

I hugged back. "I missed you, too." I felt myself cry a bit as well. I was just glad to have my best friend back.

"Big Macintosh, I would like you to meet Luna." He got off me and saw Luna.

He whispered, "Should I bow?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it. My best friend shouldn't have to now to my other best friend."

"Pleased to meet you." Luna said.

"The pleasure's all mine." He smiled. "So, how exactly do you know Ozone?"

"That's a story for another day. Or night, if you prefer." She giggled.

"Come on, Big Macintosh. We're all gonna meet up at the library later, but if you wanted to come with Luna and I, you can."

"Alright, Ozone. Ah'll stick wit ya. Where y'all headed?"

"Fluttershy's house."

"And if we want to get to the library before dark, we should get going." Luna said.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"So, this was what started it all?"

"Yep. I was going to visit Fluttershy."

"Well, thanks fer thinkin' about visitin' me!"

"Quiet, Big Macintosh. Flowers don't make me think of you."

"Is it such a good thing that they make ya think o' yer sister?"

"… Is somepony gonna knock or what?"

Seeing Big Macintosh and Luna step back, I groaned. I knocked on the door three times in rapid succession. At first nothing happened, but a few seconds later, a little white bunny rabbit popped out from behind the door.

"Open the door." The rabbit didn't budge. "Open. The. Door." Nothing.

"Angel, who's at the door?" I heard a sweet and soft voice ask. A few seconds later, Fluttershy opened the door. "Hello – oh. Oh. OH! ZONE! OZONE!" Fluttershy ran up to me and gave me a big hug. "Ozone, it's been a long time! How are you?"

"I've been fine. Well, as close to fine as I can get."

"What do you–"

"Listen, go get Rainbow and meet us at the library. I'll explain everything there. Okay?"

She nodded. She walked past us, and was about to take off, but turned to me. "You know, we all really missed you."

I smiled. "I missed you, too."

She then took to the skies at a rate only Fluttershy could fly at. I turned to Luna. "Come on, let's head back to the library."

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

We were all gathered in a big circle. We were just waiting on two ponies.

"Where are those two?" I asked to nopony in particular, "They should have been here–"

As if on queue, Rainbow Dash busted the door of its hinges. "Ozone!" She ran up and gave me a hug.

"Hey, Rainbow! Listen; can we save this for later? This is urgent."

"Hey, you broke the door!" Twilight complained.

"Yeah. Sorry." She got off me and joined us in the circle. Fluttershy, while following Rainbow, did her best to close the door.

"Okay, since I know everypony here, there's no need for introductions. I am aware that you are all probably wondering why I look so different, or why I'm not a pegasus." I looked at my flank. "And you may be curious about my Cutie Mark. Well, I'm here to explain. First, I'll need a volunteer."

Nopony raised their hoof. "Come on, don't be so Fluttershy about this." Still no reaction. "That's okay, I was gonna pick Twilight anyway. Step right up, Miss Sparkle!" She grumbled but did what she was told. "Now, I know you've been dying to hit me all day, and now's your chance. Punch me." Her horn started glowing. "No magic."

Her horn stopped glowing, but her smile grew. "That'll make this all the more satisfying."

Luna took a step forward. "Ozone, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Don't worry. I've been wanting to try something out, this is the perfect opportunity." I turned to Twilight. "What are you waiting for?"

She screamed and charged me. She rose to her hind legs and pulled back her right hoof in preparation for the punch. She pushed forward...

... And was knocked backwards.

"What the hay?" She got up and continued to try to punch me, but was deflected by an invisible force. She was pushed onto her haunches. "Why can't I hit you?"

"Yes! It worked!"

"What does? What's going on?"

I laughed. "Did everypony see that? None of her hits landed. Now, I am aware it looked like an invisible barrier, but I can assure you it wasn't." I bent down to Twilight. "You might wanna take a step back." She scooted backwards. "Let me start off by saying I am still a pegasus. You can't see my wing because I'm hiding it." A low hum of voices filled the room. "You heard me; one wing." And with that, I extended my wing. Black feathers were scattered around me as I did. The room was filled with gasps, and then went to "ooh's" and "ah's."

"Pretty cool, huh? One year ago, I was planning to visit Fluttershy. That day, something happened in the forest I was along through, and I was put into a coma. When I woke up, four faces greeted me. Both princesses, the nurse," I turned to Rainbow. "and Gilda."

"Gilda? What was she doing there?" Rainbow asked, sitting up.

"She's the one that found me in the forest and brought me to the hospital. She even visited me every day. She snuck out of her own house just to see me."

She was silent. She barely muttered "Really?"

I nodded. "I don't know what happened between you two while I was asleep, but she seemed pretty upset about it when I asked her. I asked her to come with me, but she refused, saying she was afraid of your reaction."

"Well, she should be. Do you know what she did? She–"

"Save it for later, please. We have until December to hear your side of the story. Right now, I just want everypony to know that, although my physical appearance has been quite drastically altered, I'm the same iX Ozone you met eight years ago." I turned to Sweetie Belle. "Cool story, huh?" She nodded.

Pinkie bounced forward. "Of course we know that. Why would you think otherwise?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Part of me just wanted to reveal this a little dramatically. Oh, I forgot! I can use magic now!"

"WHAT!" Everypony except Luna said in unison.

"Yep, I assume this is part of the reason I'm staying with Twilight." I turned to her. "I am aware you are Princess Celestia's most prized student at the School for Gifted Unicorns. Luna says she just gushes over how talented you are."

She turned to Luna. "The princess talks about me?"

Luna nodded. "Although, it's more like bragging."

"To avoid unnecessary attention, I've decided to conceal my wing at all times while I'm here. Twilight, I need your help. I know I've been annoying you ever since I got here, but–"

"You weren't being annoying. I'm sorry I got so worked up over it."

"Well, I just want to say I won't do that as often as I did today. I turned to Rainbow. "So Rainbow, you were telling me your side of the Gilda thing? Let's do it outside, 'kay?" We walked outside, making sure none of them were trying to follow us. When I closed the door, Rainbow punched me in the side.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"We didn't have to leave right now."

"Yeah, but I really would rather talk about it now. Wanna walk through that park while we talk?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"So, let me get this straight. Gilda snapped because she thought Pinkie set up all those pranks." Rainbow nodded. "And she tried to get you to leave the party with her because of that." She nodded. "And when you said you were the one that set up all those traps, you started yelling at her."

"I didn't exactly yell, but I was pretty mad."

"So you told her to find some new, cooler friends."

She nodded. "Even though she was mad, she shouldn't have acted like that. If that's who she is, I don't need that kind of drama in my life."

"But that isn't who she is. She ran away from her home just to see me in the hospital. She did this for the entire time I was asleep. When I woke up, she was talking about how we were gonna hang out more."

"Well," She turned to me. "I guess she did find a new, cooler friend."

"Rainbow..." I was about to say something, but stepping in water made me forget. I looked down, and noticed I was standing in a lake.

"What the hay? I don't remember this part of the park." Rainbow said.

"We must have been walking longer than we though." I looked up and saw the sun. "Look."

I pointed towards the setting sun. Rainbow walked into the lake with me. "Wow, this place is beautiful." I said.

"Maybe you should bring Gilda here." Rainbow joked.

"Ha ha, very funny. I'm serious, though. You two should make up."

"I don't know, Ozone. I'm just kinda scared to bring her here. What if she acts up again?"

I smiled at her. "Just trust her. Please, for me."

She was silent for a while, but then smiled. "Only for you, Ozone."

"Thank you. I promise you won't regret it. Want me to send a letter to her?"

She shook her head. "Let me do it."

I turned around and hugged her. "Thanks for being awesome."

She hugged back. "Hey, it's what I do."

I pulled away and smiled. "Come on, let's get back to the others."

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Twilight»

_Ugh, what is his problem! First he drags me around Ponyville, knowing he knows every single one of my friends prior to today. Then he humiliates me in front of them by using his wing as a shield when I tried to beat him up. I swear this pony will be the end of me._

As I'm on the ground, using my hind legs to propel me in circles, Applejack comes over and puts her hoof on my shoulder. "Are ya alright, sugarcube?"

I stopped spinning and looked at her. "Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Princess Luna stepped toward me. "Considering what you were just doing, I think you're far from 'fine.'"

I giggled nervously as I got up. "He's really irritating me."

"Come on, now." Big Macintosh said. "You gotta give him some time. I mean, we all put up with him."

"Because you've had eight years to get used to him."

"Well, you should at least try to make friends." Rarity suggested. "He's quite a dear once you get to know him."

"He's really into astronomy, too." Princess Luna said. "He went to Canterlot University of the Sciences under big sister's recommendation."

That surprised me. I knew he graduated early and went there, but I didn't know it was under royal recommendation. "Well, maybe I could talk him into doing something relevant to that with me. At least we have one thing in common."

"You're both ponies, too." Pinkie pointed out.

"Yeah, that too." I said with a giggle.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I went up to the balcony to watch the sunset. I always loved to watch the stars appear one by one in the sky as it turns to night. It's very soothing, especially that weird temperature you can only get at dusk and dawn. Princess Luna said that Princess Celestia would take care of the sun and moon while she was staying here. _I'd say she's doing a pretty good job_. I sighed. _The sun is about to set_. I was staring at it, waiting for it to dip below the horizon, when I heard talking below me. I followed the sound and saw Rainbow Dash and Ozone heading towards the library. I felt myself crack a smile as I saw them talking and smiling themselves. I don't know what it is about him, but he seems to make everypony smile just by existing. I felt something on my right shoulder and almost swung a hoof at it, but when I turned around, I saw it was Spike.

"He seems like a nice guy. If you think about it, he kind of acts like you and Pinkie Pie put together."

I did think about it. "I guess if you take away the annoying part of him, he is like a stallion version of Pinkie and I."

"I think you should try to hang out with him. He's friends with all of your friends. Why not?"

I sighed. "I guess... it wouldn't be such a bad idea to do something together."

He patted my back. "That's the spirit! Oh, and sorry I interrupted you."

"No problem, Spike. I suppose I needed that extra push." I looked at the sun. It was about to fully set. Then I got an idea. "Spike, can you tell Ozone to come up here, please?"

He smiled. "Sure." With that, Spike left. I turned my attention back to the sun. Please, wait just a little bit longer.

Not a minute later, I heard the clopping of hooves behind me. I then heard them stop next to me. "Hey. What's up?" He asked.

"Just watch." I pointed to the sunset. It finally disappeared and the sky was a deep blue.

"That did look pretty amazing from up here."

I turned to him and smiled. "I come up here just about every day and watch the sun set."

"You know, this is a pretty romantic spot. Are you coming on to me?"

I shook my head and laughed. "No, I don't like you like that. I barely like you in the first place."

"Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm."

"Sorry, it's just-"

He held up a hoof to stop me. "I get it. Princess Celestia said you have a hard time making friends, you even said it yourself. It's not your fault; I tend to come on a little stronger than I should, with me being around ponies five years older than me all the time. I haven't had the chance to interact with somepony my age in a couple of years."

"I also wanted to say I'm sorry about earlier. I tend to snap easily."

"Again, I don't blame you one bit."

The fact he's so willing to accept it's his fault makes the whole situation worse. I wanted to say more, but I figured it would be a waste of time. It would just result in him saying it's not my fault, and we'd be right where we started. So I kept quiet and started at the sky. It was filling with stars by the second.

We stayed on the balcony and stared at the stars. I can see why he likes this so much. It's so beautiful and peaceful.

"Hey, lovebirds!" We looked down and saw Rainbow waving to us. "We're heading out. See you two tomorrow!"

"Bye, Rainbow!" We said in unison. We looked at each other and laughed.

I heard hoofsteps behind us, and I turned to meet the gaze of Princess Luna. "So, what are the sleeping arrangements?" She asked.

_Horsefeathers._ _I forgot about that. Come on, Twilight. Think._ "Princess, if-"

"Just Luna, if that's alright with you."

"Okay, Luna, I only have one spare bed. Would you like to share with me and give the extra to Ozone?"

"Actually," Ozone cut in. "If it's alright with you two, I'd like to sleep out here."

"Really? It gets a little cold at night during this time of year."

"I'm sure. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"I'm gonna give you some extra blankets just to be safe. So I guess that means Luna and I get our own beds. Come on, Luna. I'll go get Ozone's sleeping supplies, you can unpack your things."

"And I'll get my things. Alright team, break!" With that, Ozone stormed into the library. I had to let out a small giggle.

I felt Luna nudge me. "You like him, don't you?" She asked with a devious smirk.

"What? No, it's not like that."

"It's okay if you do. It's not like I'm going after him, too."

"But I'm not-"

"Twilight, you like me? Wouldn't be much of a surprise." Ozone came in (or out, I guess), with his bag under his wing.

"Ozone, I don't like you like that. Now, can we please just get to bed?"

I almost stomped into the library. I passed Spike as he was walking towards the balcony. I heard him say, "She's totally into you."

"AM NOT!" I shouted. I ran up into my bed and pull the blankets over my entire body, creating a shield against the forces of nature.

"Come on, Twilight. We were just messing with you. We don't think you actually like him."

"Good, because I don't."

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you get so defensive? No offense, but you don't seem like the kind of mare who got teased about relationships in school."

I poked my face out from under the blankets. "That's just the thing. I don't have any experience with relationships and such."

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Twilight. I mean, look at me. Being of royal stature, I can't just run off with any stallion that knocks on my door."

I poked the rest of my head from under the blankets. "But that's different. I actually had the chance to date when I was in school, but instead I spent all my time studying and trying to get ahead of the class. That worked, but it didn't earn me any sort of stallion."

"So what's stopping you now?"

"I don't like him."

"I'm not talking about Ozone. I mean stallions in general. Sure, they're hard to come by, but you can't go wrong with the vast majority of them."

I turned and faced away from her. "I'm just not looking for a relationship right now." I yawned. "I think I'm gonna go to sleep. You can make your own bed, right?"

"Of course! Don't worry your pretty little head." She smiled.

"Okay then. Good night, Luna."

"Good night, Twilight." And with that, I let myself drift asleep.

POV Switch

«Twilight—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

We were both laughing at how Twilight reacted to our comments about her liking me.

"Well, I'm gonna hit the hay." Spike said.

"Okay. See you in the morning." He nodded and walked into the library.

I had just set up everything for me to be comfortable. I put my CD player next to my pillow, placed my iPhone next to it. My bag was right inside, in case I needed anything from them (which will probably never happen).

I had a hard time sleeping that night. I couldn't stop staring at the night sky. It looked so much different from the ground. It seemed so out of reach, so far away. It was such a weird feeling; I almost didn't want to leave.

I had eventually fallen asleep, though it was more from exhaustion than anything.

I was in a black void. I was just floating, limbs useless. I suddenly felt myself falling at an unusual speed. It felt like I wasn't even moving, but I knew I was. I came into contact with a hard and cold floor. I felt it, and it felt like the balcony, but perfectly smooth.

"**Ah, you're here**." I heard a familiar voice say. I looked all around, only to be reminded I was in pitch black. "**So, how was your first day in Ponyville?**"

"You know, you sound familiar. Do I know you?" I asked.

"**A long time ago, yes you did. Although, we weren't on speaking terms back then.**" The voice acknowledged.

"Well, who are you?"

"**I cannot answer that right now. Just know that I'm coming for you.**"

"Why? What did I do?"

"**You never abandoned Rainbow Dash. You wouldn't be in danger if you did.**"

"What kind of danger am I in?"

I was then met with a giant mask, which looked oddly familiar...

The realization finally hit me, that this was the mare that invaded my dreams on my first visit to Ponyville.

The mask smiled. "**Me.**" It began to circle me. "**But don't worry, I'm sure it won't be long until we meet face to face instead of your dreams. But find comfort in this little piece of wisdom,**" The mask got smaller and smaller until it was the equivalent of a normal face. The mask approached until we were mere centimeters apart. "**I'm somepony you have met before. Recently, actually. And if it helps narrow it down, I'm a unicorn.**" I saw the mask's horn appear on its forehead. It then began to glow, and I actually felt myself waking up. "**Have fun.**" It said before a bright light suddenly consumed me.

I pulled the pillows over my head to shield myself from the morning sun, but I felt a hoof poke my stomach, and I knew it was useless to try to sleep again.

I removed the pillows and saw Twilight smiling at me. "Morning!" I had to smile back. She giggled. "Well, more like afternoon."

I have her a confused look. "What are you-"

"It's almost noon."

_Great. This is just like the last time that mare invaded my dreams._ "Okay. Thanks, Twilight." I got up and walked into the library. As I passed her, I asked, "How long have you been out here?"

She hesitated. "Oh, uh... not too long."

I smiled. "Well, alright. You should probably come, too. I don't want you sitting up here all day while the rest of us have fun."

She nodded and got up. "Let's go." We both walked into the library and saw Spike coughing.

"Spike, are you okay?" I asked.

"He's fine," Twilight said. "Just give him a minute."

We waited and waited, but all he did was cough, like he was trying to throw up something.

"Twilight, I really think we should-" Was all I could manage before Spike suddenly burped green flames. Out of the flames appeared a letter with a royal seal. "Never mind."

Spike was on the ground when we walked over to him. I don't know if being more concerned about the letter was a bad thing, but that's how it was.

I looked over Twilight's shoulder as she read the letter to herself.

_Dear Twilight,_

_I know I don't write to you as often as I should, but I just wanted to know how Ozone and Luna were after their first day in Ponyville. I hope they haven't given you any trouble. It would be a tragedy to have to bring them back to Canterlot. I saw you and Ozone on your balcony._

_I hope to hear back from you, Ozone and Luna soon._

_Your mentor,_

_Princess Celestia_

I could see the blush on Twilight's face from Princess Celestia's comment about us on the balcony. She turned and almost jumped when she saw me. I guess I forgot to tell her I was there.

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Twilight»

I didn't jump because he scared me. I jumped because when I did face him, out faces were mere millimeters away from each other. I don't know if it was because he didn't notice, but he just laughed. I sighed and smiled.

I walked over to my desk, which already had some parchment on it, and magicked a quill. I dipped it in some ink and began to write.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Don't worry about them. Luna has been a little quiet, and Ozone has been quite the opposite. I don't see either of them becoming a problem. I was surprised at how… playful Ozone is, among other things, though.

It has also come to my attention that Ozone has magical capabilities. I'm guessing one of the reasons you sent him here is because I can help him control it. I look forward to it.

Don't tell him I said that.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

I had to make sure Ozone wasn't looking over my shoulder while I was writing. I rolled up the parchment and have it to Spike "Spike, send it."

"With pleasure." And with that, Spike lit the paper on fire, sending it away. It was a good thing it wasn't real flames; that would have resulted in me having to rewrite all my friendship reports. That would have been tragic.

I left my desk and walked towards the door, only to have Ozone block my path. He smiled down at me (did I mention he's almost bigger than Big Macintosh? Well he is). "Where ya goin'?"

"I need to head over to Rarity's for a bit. There's something we need to discuss."

"Oh, okay. Does that mean I can do whatever?"

I sighed. "As long as it doesn't blow up anything."

He groaned. "Fine." He opened the door and stormed out.

I almost walked out before I remembered Luna was there. I turned to her. "Are you going to be okay here with Spike?"

She smiled. "Don't worry. I'm sure nothing will happen."

I nodded and walked out, making my way to Rarity.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I knocked furiously on the door to Rarity's store, and was met with a "Dear, it's a store. You don't have to knock."

I opened the door and walked in to see Rarity coming down from the stairs. "Oh, Twilight, it's you. I'm sorry."

"That's alright. Was I interrupting anything?"

"No, I was actually stuck on a design and just sitting in front of my desk with my head in my hooves." She took a couple steps toward me. "Is everything alright? You usually don't visit me like this."

"There is a problem. I think…" I gulped. I was probably going to regret saying what I was about to say. _But, I know I can trust Rarity with my secrets. Well, here goes nothing._ "I think I have a crush on Ozone."

Silence and a blank stare was what I was met with.

To be continued…

**Author's note**: The word count these chapters reach... I hope I satisfied your needs with this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro, Studio B Productions, and Lauren Faust (like a faust).

Dilemmas of the PerpliXing

Chapter 3

It felt like hours of just silence. I had enough of it, and decided to break it. "Well?"

Rarity blinked. "Well what?"

"I just told you I think I have a crush on Ozone."

Rarity smiled. "Yes, yes you did."

I groaned. "What do I do? I sat next to him for almost three hours waiting for him to wake up, I enjoyed watching a sunset with him, and I was being over defensive when he and Luna were actually saying I had a crush on him. I just met him yesterday, and I already think I have feelings for him. I don't know what liking somepony feels like, but you do. Rarity, I need your help."

"Well, don't ask me. You said you think you have a crush on him. Come back to me when you know for sure." And with that, Rarity made her way back upstairs.

"Thanks, Rarity. For absolutely NOTHING!" I screamed that last part so she could hear me. I swear, it took all I had not to teleport into her room and shove my horn so far up–

"Uh, Twilight? Why are you making all those weird faces?"

I shook my head to rid myself of those thoughts and turned my attention to Sweetie Belle. "Oh, hey Sweetie Belle. I didn't see you there."

"I overheard you tell Rarity you had a crush on Ozone."

I shook my head. "See, the thing is I don't know for sure if I do."

"I could help you, you know."

"I don't think-"

"Let me get the other crusaders. Wait here, okay?"

"What? Wait, Sweetie-" By then, she was already out the door. I shook my head and smiled. I figured I wasn't going to get the answer from Rarity, so I headed back to the library.

On the way home, I had time to think. _Rarity's right._ _I mean, I just met him yesterday. There's no way I already developed feelings for him. Although, I've never really had experience with this sort of thing, so I don't know what it is. I've never acted this way around anypony before. Maybe it's different because he's a stallion_. I nodded_. Yeah, that has to be it. _Not realizing where I was going, I accidentally bumped into somepony. I rubbed my head and looked up, only to be scared on to my back again by a tan face with gold eyes and a huge smile.

"Hey, Twilight!" He almost shouted. "Is the ground really as much fun as you make it look?"

I giggled. "Hey, Ozone. What's up? Where were you?"

"Oh, I went to the post office with Rainbow to get some materials for her letter."

I cocked my head. "Who's Rainbow writing a letter to?"

He smiled. "It's a surprise."

"Now you're starting to sound like Pinkie."

"Who else do you want me to sound like? I do a mean Celestia impersonation."

I shook my head. "As enticing as that sounds, I'm gonna have to pass." He honestly looked disappointed when I said that. "Come on, let's go back to the library." He nodded and helped me up off the ground. I saw his smile grow a little as we started walking. "Hey, Ozone?" I asked nervously.

"Hmm?"

"I've been thinking…"

"Really?" He asked sarcastically.

"It's just… I think… since you'll be here for a while, that we could-"

"Well, we are kind of staying in the same place, it would only make sense."

I blinked. "You knew what I was gonna say?"

He nodded. "You were gonna ask if we could hang out more." He shrugged. "I wouldn't expect us not to. I just hope Luna doesn't mind, since she hasn't seen me in… a while."

I held back a sigh of relief. I completely forgot what I was going to say after he said what he did. I might have almost asked him out or something.

We walked into the library to find Luna and Spike laughing loudly.

"What's going on, you two?" Ozone asked.

"Luna was just telling me about all the things she did when she was younger," Spike said giggling. "like the time she replaced Princess Celestia's shampoo with the universal solvent!" They started laughing really hard at that.

I sort of giggled, too. "I think these two will be fine on their own." I said. I turned to Ozone. "So, what do you feel like doing?"

Ozone looked down in thought, then shook his head and shrugged. "I have no idea."

Spike stepped in. "Hey, I have an idea. This is a library. Why don't you, I don't know… read something."

I looked at Ozone. He shrugged. "I guess that's okay."

_I was kind of trying to _avoid_ books for his sake, but I guess this will be a good thing._ I nodded and we headed upstairs. Not five seconds later did I hear laughter from below.

When we reached our destination, I sighed. "Well, we are kind of in a library…"

"Come on, Twilight. I know you've got some kind of plan going on up there."

_Yeah, I do. Us, sitting on the balcony, leaning against each other while watching the sunset. We then look at each other knowingly, leaning in closer and closer-_

"Twilight? What's going on with your face?"

I suddenly remembered how bad I was at masking my emotions, and shook my head violently. _It's almost like I _want_ to be with him. This is getting weird._ I didn't even want to think about another night on the balcony, let alone us… _ugh, I can't even think the word._ "Oh, I was just thinking about… stuff." I laughed nervously.

Ozone started at me for a second then smiled. "I understand." He looked down at his hooves. "And, actually, there's something I kind of wanted to ask you…"

I felt my heart beat faster. _I hope he isn't about to ask what I think he's about to ask._

"What kind of music do you like?"

I sighed in my mind. "I guess I like all kinds of music. Why do you ask?"

"Well, have you ever heard of Linkin Park?"

I smiled. "I have. I can honestly say I've only heard, like, two of their songs."

"Do… did you like them?"

I nodded. "I guess I did. Why?"

"Well, I was just wondering… if you wanted to, I don't know… listen to some music with me? I don't know if that's what friends do with each other. I've never really let anypony listen to my music before."

It was sort of cute to see him like this. I walked closer to him. "So, you're asking me if I want to listen to music with you?" He continued to look at the floor. "The answer is yes if that's the case."

At this he picked his head up and smiled. "Really?"

I nodded. "Really."

He looked like I had just said "yes" to his marriage proposal. "So, where do you want to…"

"How about the balcony?" I mentally kicked myself for suggesting that.

"Sure. Let's go up there now. Unless, you'd rather do something else…"

He was in a Fluttershy-like state again. "Now's a god time. Let's go."

He picked himself up and nodded. I followed him up to the balcony. There, he picked up his iPhone and turned it on. He selected the music application and went into the Linkin Park section. He plugged in a pair of earphones and handed one to me. I lifted it up and put it in my ear. He set the song list to shuffle, and the first song to play was sort of a slow song. It was an acoustic guitar, unlike their usual electric one. It sounded… pleasant.

"_When you feel you're alone, cut off from this cruel world_

_Your instincts telling you to run_

"_Listen to your heart, those angel voices_

_They'll sing to you they'll be your guide back home_

"_When life leaves us blind_

_Love keeps us kind_

_It keeps us kind_

"_When you've suffered enough, and your spirit is breaking_

_You're growing desperate from the fight_

"_Remember you're loved, and you always will be_

_This melody will bring you right back home_

"_When life leaves us blind_

_Love keeps us kind_

_When life leaves us blind_

_Love keeps us kind_

"_Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhhh!_

_Ohhhhhhh Ohhhhhh!_

_Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhhh!"_

As the guitar played the final chord, I asked Ozone to stop the music for a second. I looked at him and noticed he was tearing up. I swear I almost did, too.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Quite the opposite. That song… it was beautiful. And it made me think of you." I saw him cock his head. "It's just… these lyrics. The aura you give off delivers the same message as this song. A message that says 'I'm here for you, you'll always a place in my heart' and I really respect that."

He smiled. "I didn't know I had that effect."

I didn't know what I did until I did it. I scooted closer to him. "Yeah, you do."

He looked out at the horizon. We just sat there in silence. After a while I asked him if he listened to any other music besides Linkin Park.

"I do, but you probably wouldn't want to hear them…"

"Who else do you listen to?"

"Evaneighscence…"

I gasped. "Really?" I saw him recoil at my reaction. "I love them!"

He had a look of both shock and amazement. "Really?"

I nodded. "I haven't listened to them in so long, it would be awesome to hear them again."

He lit up at my comments. He unplugged his earphones from his iPod and grabbed his CD player. He plugged in the earphones and hit play. He skipped a few songs and stopped at his destination. It started off with very slow-paced piano. It wasn't until about twenty seconds in until the vocals started.

"_I've been believing_

_In something so distant_

_As if I was human_

"_And I've been denying_

_This feeling of hopelessness_

_In me, in me_

The piano picked up the pace as he song advanced.

"_All the promises I made_

_Just to let you down_

_You believed in me but I'm broken_

"_I have nothing left_

_And all I feel is this cruel wanting_

_We've been falling for all this time_

_And now, I'm lost in paradise"_

At she held that last syllable, the rest of the band started to play and the song picked up.

"_As much as I like the past_

_Not to exist, it still does_

_And as much as I like_

_To feel like I belong here_

_I'm just as scared as you_

"_I have nothing left_

_And all I feel is this cruel wanting_

_We've been falling for all this time_

_And now, I'm lost in paradise_

"_Ohhh run away, run away_

_One day we won't feel this pain anymore_

_Take it all away_

_Shadows of you_

_Cause they won't let me go_

"_Until I have nothing left_

_And all I feel is this cruel wanting_

_We've been falling for all this time_

_And now, I'm lost in paradise."_

The song slowed back down to piano as it ended.

"_Alone, and lost in paradise."_

Some ponies may call this music sad or depressing. But I find it refreshing, beautiful. The lyrics reach out to me, and in some cases I can relate to them. I had almost forgotten about this band. I'm so glad Ozone brought this up.

"Twilight? Are you okay?" Ozone asked.

I nodded. "It's just… these songs are so beautiful, they make me tear up sometimes."

"I know that feel." We looked at the sun. It was starting to set. Ozone looked at me. "Uh, Twilight…"

"Yeah?"

"Do you wanna, you know… make this an everyday thing? You know, since you already come up here just about every day, I just wanted to know if you wanted to do it… with me. If that's okay, you don't have to say yes if you don't want to."

I had to giggle. He was back into Fluttershy mode. "Of course we can do this everyday. I really enjoy this." This is how we're going to spend more time together. This is how I'm going to find out if I like him or not.

"Come on, play another song."

"Actually, I kind of wanted you to pick something…"

I nodded in understanding and picked up his iPod. I scrolled through the songs, skipping a few I didn't want to play because they would just lead to… things, until I reached a song that I didn't think Ozone would have. I immediately plugged in the earphones and played the song.

"_I wanna hold 'em like they do in Texas, please…"_

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

We continued to listen to music through the evening and even during the night. I learnt a little bit about Ozone during this time. I slowly let down my guard as the night went on. The stars had long since filled the sky before we decided to call it a night. I left Ozone alone on the balcony and headed to my bed.

I almost gasped when I saw my bed. There was a plate with my dinner on it, and next to it was a sleeping Spike. I smiled and picked Spike up with my magic and put him in his bed.

"You know, you're not making it easy for me to not tease you about liking Ozone."

I jumped when I heard Luna's voice. Good thing Spike was already in his bed, I probably would have dropped him. I turned to see Luna in her bed, smiling at me. "Because I think I actually do."

"You're kidding… you're kidding, right?" I looked at the floor. "You're not kidding!" She then proceeded to laugh at me for what seemed like an hour. As she settled down, she tried to apologize. "Sorry, but seriously? Ozone? I understand he has all the qualities of a perfect stallion; the eyes, the attitude, the contrast of his mane colors…" She stopped herself. I giggled at how much she notices these things. "Anyway, you just met him. How can you be sure?"

"That's the thing. I'm not sure. And what happens if I do?"

"I know you two would be very happy together. The way you two act when you're on the balcony is what everypony wishes they could do with the one they… appreciate."

I could tell she was trying to avoid the word "love" because she knew I would-

"Twilight, you really need to learn how to stop your emotions from showing on your face. It could give ponies the wrong idea."

I blushed when I realized I was doing it again. "Sorry, I'm not very good at thinking in public."

"So, are you gonna give in and say you like him?"

"Not until I know for sure."

She turned over in her bed. "Then I have nothing else to say. Good night."

I smiled. "Good night." I got into my bed and fell asleep.

POV Switch

«Twilight—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

I don't even know what to call what Twilight and I did up on the balcony. _A date? No, we don't like each other like that. A play date? No, sounds to foalish. Hanging out? I guess that's a better term for it. _All I know was that it was fun. We didn't do anything except listen to music and talk, which I was okay with. It feels nice to just sit around and talk. Especially with somepony who understands me so well. I mean, it's only been two days, and she already completely trusts me. We even have similar music interests.

Staring up at the stars is inspirational. It helps me think.

"My original purpose for coming here was to spend time with my family. It seems like the only thing I'm doing is hanging out with Twilight. Kind of makes me wonder… am I really here to spend time with family? Or does Fate have a different idea?" I sighed. "Let's just hope I can make that decision by tomorrow."

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

As soon as I woke up, I headed straight for Rarity's. I jumped off the balcony and ran across Ponyville to arrive at Rarity's doorstep. I knocked on her door, and Sweetie Belle answered.

"Hey, Sweetie. Is Rarity here?"

"Yeah. I'll go get her."

"Thanks, because I really-"

"After we talk for a bit."

All that was going through my head was _Oh gosh, what's going on?_ as she led me inside.

"Let me see your wing."

"Listen, I don't think-"

"Show. Me."

I held up my forehooves in surrender. I extended my wing, scattering black feathers as I did. Sweetie proceeded to inspect my wing for what seemed like an hour.

She spoke up after fully analyzing my wing. "How fast can you fly?"

"Pretty fast."

"Can you beat Rainbow Dash in a race?"

"Can and have."

"Okay, that settles it." Sweetie Belle suddenly decided to try to rip her face off.

"Whoa, what are you-" I soon realized that it wasn't actually Sweetie Belle I was talking to, buy an orange filly with a purple mane. There was also an absence of a Cutie Mark. "Forget Rainbow Dash. I'm your number one fan now!"

"Who are you? Where's Sweetie Belle?"

She giggled. "I guess I forgot to mention that. My name's Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle's at Sweet Apple Acres with Applebloom."

"Okay. Is Rarity upstairs?"

"I don't know. I snuck in here through the back."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Rarity came walking down the stairs. "Sweetie? I thought you were at…" Scootaloo turned and saw Rarity. They made eye contact, and Scootaloo high-tailed it out of there. Rarity smiled when she saw me. "Hello, Ozone. Did you need something?"

"Actually, I kind of need your advice about something."

"What kind of advice?"

"The kind of advice I can only get from one of my crush's best friends."

It took Rarity a second to register what I had said, but smiled. "It's a good thing Twilight didn't make me Pinkie Pie promise."

"Pinkie Pie promise what?"

"That she thinks she has a crush on you. Honestly, it's sad. You either like a pony, or you don't. She needs to make up her mind."

"I need help on how to tell her."

"Well, if you want my opinion, don't just tell her. Wait until the right moment, when you two are alone and together and there's a very romantic mood going on. Get close to her, put her under your wing. Now, a definite don't when it comes to this kind of thing is to try to act smooth. It never works. Be yourself; it'll work a lot better, especially since your personality could rival any stallion in Equestria's."

I replayed what she said in my head. Don't act smooth and make sure we're alone seem like the most important out of the tips she gave me. "Thanks so much, Rarity. Can you give me any ideas on how to do this?"

"Oh heavens no. It would have me written all over it if I did it. No, that part's for you to figure out. But if I were you, I'd get started on those magic lessons."

I had completely forgotten about that. "Thank you, Rarity. You're a great friend." I started to walk away, but I turned around to see Rarity heading for the stairs. "Hey Rarity? What have you been doing?"

"I've been designing attire for the Grand Galloping Gala. I wanted to start early so that I don't end up waiting until the last minute."

"Oh, okay. Well, see you around." I again turned towards the door, but stopped. "Oh, before I forget, Pinkie Pie promise you won't tell Twilight. And if you feel the need to tell some other pony, make sure they won't go and tell Twilight."

She nodded and proceeded to Pinkie Pie promise. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

I smiled. "Don't worry. We're gonna hang out soon enough. I just really needed that advice." Satisfied, I left Carousel Boutique.

I headed back to the library, and almost made it there, too. I was within knocking range of the door, but then I felt myself get pushed to the ground. It tool me a while to realize I was pinned to the ground by Rainbow Dash. "Oh, hey Ozone!" She said with a grin. "Didn't see you there. So, how's your day going?"

"Pretty good, actually. I was actually going to ask Twilight to help me with some magic stuff."

She paused before answering. "So, you like her?"

"Maybe a little."

"Your daily dates helping her feel the same way?"

I laughed a little. "I wouldn't call them dates."

"From the cloud I was watching you from, they looked like dates."

I completely disregarded the fact that Rainbow had been watching us. "Well, I should get going. I don't wanna keep Twilight waiting."

As I walked away, I heard Rainbow shout "I'm rootin' for ya!"

I smiled as I opened the door to the library and walked in.

I saw Luna pacing back and forth. "Hey, Luna? What's up?"

She turned to me. "I'm waiting for Spike. He should be-"

Spike came crashing down the stairs. "I did it!"

They both started laughing hysterically. "What's going on? What did you do?"

Luna shushed me. "Just wait."

I heard Twilight scream not seconds later. She ran down the stairs and tackled me. She wrapped her forehooves around my neck in a vice-like grip and said "Snakes… apple sauce… spiders… gummy worms everywhere…"

I laughed nervously. "Hey, Twilight. Guess what? Believe it or not, I require oxygen! So if you could just let go of my neck that would be super!"

She froze. She slowly rose so we were eye to eye, although she was looking down on my. I smiled, but she jumped off and hit the wall. Spike turned to Luna. "Wow, that didn't last as long as I had hoped."

I turned to them. "What were you… you know what, forget it." I turned to Twilight. "Come on, I think it's time we started those magic lessons."

She looked like she was about to pass out, but nodded and started for upstairs. As I followed her, I heard Spike say "Also, stay away from the bathroom for a few hours. Just a heads up."

I took that warning to heart.

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Twilight»

That was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. I'm just glad it's over.

We reached the top of the stairs and there was an awkward silence. I finally broke it after almost a minute. "So, what do you know how to do?"

"Just this." He raised his front hooves them stomped them onto the ground. All of a sudden, the outline of a circle was visible, and glowing electric blue. Probably because there was electricity flowing through the outline. The outline then became more complicated, adding symbols and inscribed shapes. All the while, the amount of electricity and energy was increasing by the second.

In front of me was a transmutation circle.

"Stop!" I yelled. This caused him to break concentration and the circle to disappear. His front legs gave out and he hit the ground with a loud thud. I rushed over to him and turned him over on his side. He was gasping for breath for a little while, but regained a steady breathing pattern. "Do you know what you just did?"

He looked up at me. "No. Please tell me I didn't do something bad."

I shook my head. "What you just did was called Alchemy."

"So what I was just making was a transmutation circle?" I nodded. "I've never seen one of them before, and Luna didn't know what was up."

"What about Princess Celestia?"

"We sort of… didn't tell her about this yet."

"I need to write to her right away, then. Do you need help getting up?"

He tried to use his right forehoof to push up, but it fell limp like jelly. "A little assistance would be helpful, thanks."

I nodded and picked him up onto my back with my magic. I walked down the stairs and to my desk. I layed out a piece of parchment, dipped the quill in some ink and began to write.

Dear Princess Celestia,

We have a situation with Ozone's magic. The situation being that it's not really magic, it's Alchemy. I don't know a lot about Alchemy, and it would help if I could get your assistance.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

With the letter written, I grabbed it in my mouth and I sped down the stairs to find Spike. He was sitting at a table and, of course, talking with Luna. I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but I had to interrupt them because this was urgent.

I put the letter on the table. "Spike, could you send this letter to Princess Celestia? It has to do with Ozone and his magic."

"Sure, Twilight." He grabbed the letter off the table and set it on fire, sending it. He turned to Ozone. "Why are you on Twilight's back?"

"My legs gave out."

"Ozone, you know that's what happens when you try magic." Luna said.

"I do know, but I wanted to show Twilight. I kind of thought she would know what was up, and she did."

"So, I imagine that's what the letter was about."

I nodded. "I asked for Princess Celestia's help. I hope she has the time."

At that moment, Princess Celestia burst through the door. "Twilight, that isn't funny."

"What isn't, princess?" I asked, confused.

"Ozone can use Alchemy? Alchemy isn't something to joke about."

"But princess, I'm not-"

"Big sister, she's telling the truth." Luna stepped in. "I saw it myself."

"Luna-"

"I know that Alchemy is a one in an infinity case, but it's true."

Princess Celestia sighed. "Alchemy is a very unstable type of magic. It's difficult to use, even more difficult to control. I know only two others who can use Alchemy, but they are long gone." She looked at the floor. "If I had known he could use Alchemy, I probably could have done something earlier…"

"It's my fault," Ozone spoke up. "The fact you didn't know. The first time I tried it, Luna and I agrees that it would be best if we dealt with this once we got to here. I'm sorry, we didn't know all the details."

Princess Celestia advanced towards me. I was starting to panic, but Ozone tapped my head. "I think I can walk." I nodded and slid him off my back. I stepped to the side as she approached Ozone.

"You think, just because it wasn't important to you, that it couldn't have been worth mentioning to me?"

I didn't see Ozone flinch or take a step back. He kept a straight face and didn't blink. It was as if he was a royal guard. "That's exactly it. Again, I'm sorry." He blinked. "I just… don't want Twilight to take the blame for my stupidity. I don't want you to blame Luna either; I made her swear not to tell. I want the blame to be all mine."

Princess Celestia did something I never though I'd see her do. She hugged Ozone. She also whispered something in his ear, but I was out of earshot and couldn't tell what she said. He nodded and she let go. "I'm extremely sorry for reacting as I did. I should have been more civil. There isn't a thing I can do right now, but I will let you know as soon as I can when I find something." She turned to me and smiled. "Good luck, Twilight. You're going to need it with this one."

POV Switch

«Twilight—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

"Just don't let it kill you. You have ponies to come back to." Was what Princess Celestia told me before she left.

After she left, Twilight walked up to me. "What did she tell you?"

"Oh, nothing important."

She shrugged and looked away. "Well, I guess I'm no help at this point."

I punched her shoulder. "Come on, Twilight. Just because you can't help me with my Alchemy doesn't mean you're useless. We're friends, and I won't let this get in the way."

She looked up at me and smiled. "Thank you."

I nodded. "Now come on, how about we all go to Sugarcube Corner for something to eat?"

Spike jumped down from his seat and Twilight and Luna nodded. We walked outside and headed for Pinkie's shop.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"What's Alchemy?" Pinkie asked.

"It's a very rare and unstable type of magic." Luna explained. "If used right, it can do things not even big sister can do."

"Is that a good thing?"

"It can be."

"I guess that's good. So, you guys got anything planned? Because I kind of wanted to have a sleepover with everypony so we can tell Ozone what he missed."

Twilight lit up at the idea. "That's a great idea, Pinkie! We could have it at the library, since that's the only place with enough room."

Luna wasn't so enthusiastic, but went along with it. I held up my hoof. "Ooh! Ooh! Ozone has a question. Call on him, Twilight!"

Twilight giggled. "Yes, Ozone?"

"Should I go get everypony now, or should I wait?"

"Better tell them now." Twilight said. "Then they'll have time to get ready. Tell them to be at the library by eight tonight. Also tell them to eat dinner before they come; I don't have enough food to feed eight fully grown ponies."

I nodded and walked out and headed for Rarity's.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I knocked furiously on Rarity's door until she answered. "Yes, darling?"

"Sleepover. Twilight's. Eight tonight. Eat beforehand."

She nodded. I ran towards Applejack's house.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

Luckily, Applejack was outside, walking towards the barn. Although, she wasn't looking at where she was going. I seized the opportunity to stand in her path without her noticing.

She slammed into me harder than I thought she would. I was staggered for a second, but Applejack was knocked backwards and on the ground. She shook her head and glared at me. I continued to smile. "What the hay is yer problem?"

"Sleepover at Twilight's. Eight tonight. Eat dinner beforehand."

She smiled. "Should I bring Big Macintosh?"

"Of course. The only thing we're doing is telling stories, but I don't want him to be left out."

She nodded and I helped her up. I ran towards my next destination; Fluttershy's house.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

Fluttershy was out back, her head in the chicken coop. I waited until she was done to approach her.

"Hey, Ozone." She said with a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks. Listen, there's going to be a sleepover at Twilight's tonight at eight. Can you get Rainbow Dash and tell her as well? Also, eat dinner beforehand."

She nodded. "I'll make sure this gets to Rainbow."

I nodded and sped back to the library.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

After eating dinner, we rearranged the library a little so everypony could fit.

"Ozone, are you still sleeping on the balcony?" Twilight asked. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Yes I'm sure. I don't want to be around when you start talking about me."

"Ha ha, very funny. I'm serious, though. I can arrange everything so that you can sleep inside."

"It's fine, Twilight. Honest." I looked at the clock. Seven fifty-five. Almost time. I heard a knock at the door and I yelled as loud as I could. "Chill out everypony! I got this!"

I opened the door and was trampled to death.

To be continued…

**Author's note**: No typo, this will be continued. It was just too tempting to end the chapter like this. Songs used were "The Messenger" by Linkin Park, "Lost in Paradise" by Evanescence, and the first line of "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga.


	4. Chapter 4

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro, Studio B Productions, and Lauren Faust (like a faust).

Dilemmas of the PerpliXing

Chapter 4

Not literally, of course. I was soon back on my hooves looked at the ponies that nearly killed me. One stallion and five mares, one pink and jumpy one already in her pajamas, were holding their sleeping bags and smiling.

"Twilight!" I called.

She walked up to me. "Yeah?"

"The floor wasn't as fun as you made it look."

She giggled and turned to our friends. "Looks like everypony has their sleeping bags. Why don't we head upstairs and set up?"

Pinkie raised her hoof. "Miss Sparkle! I have a question!"

"Yes, Pinkie?"

"Where am I keeping all the candy I brought. There's enough for everypony."

"We'll put the candy in the center of the room and make a circle around it. Sound good?"

Everypony nodded. "All right, let's stay up all night!" I turned to Pinkie. "Which, thanks to Pinkie, will be a little more possible."

They all headed up the stairs, except for Luna, who stayed in her chair, facing the window. I sighed and walked over to her. I put my head on her shoulder. "Come on, Luna. It'll be fun."

"I know, but…"

"What is it?"

"I guess it's just… don't hurt me for saying this, but I feel like your spending more time with Twilight than you should be. I just feel…"

"Left out?"

"… Jealous."

I lifted my head off her shoulder and turned her head so she was facing me. "Of Twilight?" She nodded. "I… I'm so sorry I haven't been spending time with you. I just… like her, a lot, and I've been so wrapped up in that that I haven't even thought about how you felt." I looked at the floor. "I didn't know I was doing this to you. How about this," I looked her in the eyes. "Tomorrow, it'll be just you and me, sound good?"

She shook her head. "I don't want you to disregard Twilight like that just because I'm feeling a little jealous. I know you want to spend more time with her and I want you to." I could see her eyes turning red as she held back her tears.

"Why are you crying?"

"I just… don't wanna be alone. Please, I don't want to loose you again." The tears finally left her eyes and streamed down her face. She was smiling the entire time.

I didn't know what to say. I had no idea she felt this way about everything. I put my hand on the back of her head and put her face on my chest. She cried onto me as I stroked her mane. "I will never forget about you, even if everything between Twilight and I goes right. You'll always be with me, just as I will always be with you. Remember that."

"Ozone, you're the best friend anypony could ask for. I will never forget about you."

"Thanks." I pulled her up so we were face to face. "And I'm serious about tomorrow. Just me and you."

She was hesitant, but nodded. "I…"

"Don't worry. Relationships come and go, but friends are forever. Remember that, too." She smiled and I wiped her tears. "Come on, let's go upstairs." She nodded and hopped off the chair. When I was next to her, I felt her kiss my cheek. I smiled as we walked side-by-side up the stairs.

The sleeping bags were in a circle around a massive pile of candy. Rainbow and Twilight were talking off to the right, Applejack and Rarity were arguing off to the left, Fluttershy was sitting peacefully, watching Pinkie jump in and out of the pile of candy.

Fluttershy saw Luna and I walk in and said told everypony that it's time to start. Or, at least, tried. Her voice was barely audible over the talking and arguing.

"'AY YO! WE GONNA DO THIS OR WHAT?" I yelled as loud as I could. Everypony cringed at my volume and looked at me.

Rainbow walked up to me. "Heh, sorry. We didn't see you there."

I hugged her. "That's okay. Now," I looked around the room. "I think we should start with the story of how you all met."

Everypony got into their sleeping bags (except for me) and grabbed some candy. Twilight spoke up. "Well, it all started with me studying the Elements of Harmony…"

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

After hearing about all their adventures, I decided to head out to the balcony. I didn't bother asking Twilight to come with me; she looked like she was busy with our friends.

I spread myself across my sleeping bag and looked at the sky. It was already night, the stars had long since lit up. _I just kind of wish I could come out and say it. This is all happening way to fast. I just met her, and I already have a crush on her?_ I sighed. _Great, now my life is like a bad romance book. Except it's a lot hotter because I'm involved._ I laughed at my own joke. _Why do I have to like Twilight?_

I heard hoofsteps behind me. I turned and saw Pinkie slowly walking towards me. "Ozone? We need to talk."

I sat up. "What about?"

"What you're really doing here."

I sighed and scooted over and patted a space next to me. "Come on, sit down. This is gonna be a little difficult to explain."

She took her seat next to me. "You said you'd be here until early December. You said you were here because Princess Celestia wanted you to spend time with your friends and family," She looked at me. "Ozone, you spend all day in the library. Are you okay?"

I sighed and nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna tell you the reason, but you have to promise not to tell Twilight."

She proceeded to Pinkie Pie promise. "That may seem like a joke to everypony, but to me it isn't. I really commit when I make one of those promises."

"I know you do, Pinkie. And right now, I need that." I looked at her. Her eyes were full of concern. "I kind of… have a crush on Twilight. I've been trying to spend more time with her."

"Wait… you like Twilight?" I nodded. She smiled the biggest of smiles. "That's great! I hope it works out between you two, because it would be really awkward if she rejected you because you two live in the same place. Plus it would probably result in us having to choose between you and Twilight and I don't want that to happen."

"I don't either. I just…"

"Ozone, I just need to ask you one thing." I nodded. "Are you sure what your feeling isn't really just a crush? I mean, you two met not even a week ago."

I sighed. "I hope it's real. I want it to be."

"Well, as long as you want it to be…" She hugged me. "Good luck."

"Thanks, Pinkie. You're a great friend."

She got up. "I'm gonna go back inside. Are you sure you don't wanna come?"

I nodded. "I'm just gonna go to sleep."

"Okay. Good night, Ozone."

"Night, Pinkie." She smiled and walked back inside. I got into my sleeping bag and fell asleep.

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Twilight»

"So, about your crush…"

I choked on my own breath at hearing that. I saved myself and turned to Rarity. "Rarity!"

"What?" She shrugged. "You didn't make me promise not to tell."

I gasped. "You didn't…"

She smiled. "Oh, but I did."

I tackled Rarity to the ground. She resisted, but I pinned her. "You told him!"

"I said you weren't sure, nothing more."

"What did he say?"

She stopped and smiled. "He was smart and made me promise not to tell. Pinkie Pie promise."

I groaned and got off of her. I began pacing. "Okay, Twilight. Calm down, it's not the end of the world. She said you weren't sure, not that you liked him. There's still a possibility he thinks you don't like him."

"… So you do like him?"

I stopped and stared blankly ahead of me. I sighed. "You know, I think I have this whole time, but I've been avoiding it."

"Well, it took you long enough to admit it." Rarity smiled.

"Who ya talkin' about?" Pinkie bounced in.

I sighed. "Ozone."

"Really?" She lit up and quite literally it the wall. "That's great!"

"Wait, did I hear you guys right?" Rainbow walked in. "Twilight finally fell for Ozone? You know-"

"Ahem!" Rarity couldn't have don't that louder. She shook her head to Rainbow, and Rainbow nodded.

"Well, I'm gonna hit the hay. Lates!" Rainbow zipped into her sleeping bag and started to fake snore. However, they soon turned into real ones.

"Ah think it'd be a good thing if we all got some sleep." Applejack said.

"Your right." I got into my sleeping bag. I fell asleep, smiling, to one thought. _My first crush…_

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I was the last to wake up that morning. I heard talking downstairs as I got out of my sleeping bag. I looked at the mountain of candy in the middle of the room. Well, it was more of a handful at that point. I walked downstairs and smiled when I saw everypony sitting at the table.

"So, what's everypony doing today?" I asked.

They all looked at me. "Nothing, really." Rarity said.

Everypony agreed. Everypony except for Luna. "Well, Ozone and I were gonna sort of… hang out today."

I felt my smile fade away. "Really? Alright then." I looked around and noticed something. "Where's Ozone?"

"He's still asleep." Rainbow said. "Just leave him. Sometimes he just needs it."

I nodded, but turned around as I heard hoofsteps. "Awake, are we?" I asked Ozone with a smile.

"As awake as I can be." He coughed. "Got anything to drink? My mouth's kind of dry."

"I'll be right back." Spike walked into the kitchen. He came back with a glass of water.

Ozone sat down and held it in his hooves. He chugged it in under five seconds. "Alright, I think I'm good." He got up and turned to Luna. "You ready to go?"

She nodded. "I still say we don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"But I do want to. Now come on, it's," He turned to look at the clock. "eleven o'clock. I wanna burn as little daylight as possible."

They were soon out the door, and I was left with a free day. _No Ozone to distract me, I can do whatever I want for the first time in…_ I thought about how long Ozone's actually been here. _Four days. He's only been here for four days. Maybe I do need a day for myself._

"Twilight, you should come to the spa with me!" Rarity suggested.

_Well, there goes that._

POV Switch

«Twilight—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

I guess nothing went wrong as far as planned events went. We ate lunch at Sugarcube Corner (Pinkie's cupcakes make a great lunch) then hung out in the park.

After that, we really had nothing to do. We ended up just walking and talking. That's when I ended up bumping into a pony. Whoever it was wasn't very strong, because they dropped like brick (without the weight). I looked to see who I had bumped into.

"Holy crap…"

The light turquoise pony shook her head and rubbed her temples. "'Holy crap' is right! Geez, your like a brick…" She looked at me and her eyes widened. Those pretty orange eyes. "… wall."

"Ozone, do you know this-"

"Ozone! It's you!" Lyra jumped and tackled me. She had me wrapped in her arms like a foal hugging a stuffed animal. "Ozone, it's really you! It's been so long!"

I smiled and hugged her back. "I know, Lyra. I missed you when I never saw you after Pinkie's party."

"Ozone, you have no idea how sorry I am for that." She got off me. "We have a lot to catch up on." She turned to Luna. "You don't mind, do you princess?"

She shook her head and smiled. "To any of Ozone's friends, it's just Luna."

"Luna, are you sure-"

"What did I tell you earlier?" She turned to Lyra. "Why don't we find a nice place to sit?"

"The benches near Pinkie's bakery are a pretty good spot." She turned to me. "You in?"

I nodded. "Let's roll."

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

It was really nice talking to Lyra again. She said she patched things up with Bon-Bon, and they were the best of friends. I told her about everything. Everything was perfect.

_Too perfect._

The screams to my left alerted me, and I turned to see a sword flying towards my face. I quickly deflected it with my wing as I did with Twilight on the first day. I turned to see a red pegasus stallion with robotic forelimbs clear on the other side of Sugarcube Corner. He looked angry.

I got off the bench. "Change of plans, you two. Don't go too far, but stay somewhere safe. I know you two can help, but this guy obviously has some sort of beef with me. I don't want you getting hurt in the crossfire."

"But-"

"Come on," Luna said. "If he says he can handle it, let him." She turned to me. "Don't die."

_Obviously._ I nodded and turned to the stallion. He was approaching, and he was doing it pretty fast. I ran up to him and stood on my hind legs. He did the same, and our forelimbs crossed. His nose was visibly fuming and his eyes were bloodshot. "Who are you? Why are you here?" I asked.

He didn't respond. Instead, he pushed me backwards and tried to slice me with a wrist blade. I blocked it with my wing and stepped backwards. "You're a really annoying kid, you know that?" He said to me.

"Do I know you?"

"Yes, but that's a story for another day. If you survive today, that is." He charged me and tried to punch me, but I dodged it and punched him in the gut. It felt like a brick wall. I tripped over myself and was on my back. He jumped really high, and was falling straight on to me. He flicked out a wrist blade and pulled his hoof back. I rolled to the left just in time. His impact shook the ground, and it helped me get back up on my hooves.

"Is there any specific reason your trying to kill me, or are you just an angry pony in need of a hug?"

"With you out of the way, we have a better chance at killing Rainbow and not having it backfire on us."

Everything clicked into place. "So, you're working with that masked mare? You know, I'm starting to think this is more about killing me than killing Rainbow."

"Well, you were the one who destroyed our original laboratory, but again, that's a story for another day. Right now, I'm supposed to kill you, and-"

"If your going to kill me like this, wouldn't the honorable thing to do is tell me your name? Right now, you're just some pony who attacked me on the street."

He gave me a confused look. "I… yeah, I guess I should tell you my name. You should know the name of your killer." He exited his battle stance. "My name is Crawler, because you might as well rip off my wings. I'm to heavy to use them."

"Really?" I smiled. "That's interesting."

_**Go ahead, use your Alchemy**__. _The masked mare's voice was in my head._**I wanna see you use it on a live specimen. I don't care if he's one of us, just do it.**_

_I guess I have no other choice, considering physical attacks do next to nothing_. I licked my lips and stared him down.

"Whoa, what's that look your giving me?"

"You'll see." I smacked my forehooves against the ground. The ground shook violently as an electric blue circle formed around Krawler.

"Wh-what's goin' on here?" Next a star made of two triangles, trapping him in a hexagon. Circles formed inside the points of the star, and soon electric blue bulbs were rising from the circles. They floated, suspended in the air. Trails of electric blue led from the circles to Krawler's body. The trails started glowing brighter and brighter, until the bulbs let go of the trails, piercing his body with the trails like arrows. After the spears pierced him, everything faded away, leaving Krawler a fountain of blood. He was stumbling from left to right trying to walk, but tripped over himself and fell on his face. Blood was pouring out of the holes in his body, and he died in less than a minute. His body just went limp, blood still rushing out of the holes in his body. I looked at my hooves.

"Wh… what did I just do?"

_**Good job, my young Ozone! Quite impressive indeed. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting you to kill him on the first try, and I expected you to collapse again, but that just means your making excellent progress! Krawler will be missed, but it's all for the greater good**__._

"Or evil, in your case." I said out loud.

_**Yes, I suppose your correct on that account. I'll leave you alone now, it would seem you have some explaining to do.**_

"What are you…" I turned to meet the faces of tons of terrified faces. "Oh, them."

Lyra and Luna approached me. Lyra kept her distance. "Ozone, wh- what was that? What did you do to him…" Lyra looked genuinely scared of me.

Luna sighed. "That was a lost magic called Alchemy. It's very unstable and dangerous, as Ozone just demonstrated." She turned to me. "But I must ask… did you mean to…"

"Of course not! I didn't know what was happening. I-"

"It's okay. I trust you." Luna smiled. "Although, I'm not sure you have the trust of the rest of these ponies."

I looked around to see everypony still hiding. "Lyra, how about you? Do you trust me?"

She looked down at the ground, but nodded. "Luna said it was a very unstable type of magic, do I know you can't possibly have any idea what you do when you use it. Especially because of the fact you're a pegasus and have no experience with magic."

"Thanks… I guess. With you guys on my side, I don't care about the rest of them."

"What about Twilight?" Luna asked.

I suddenly began to panic. I looked around. "She isn't here, is she?"

"She shouldn't be. Wanna go back to the library to make sure?" Luna suggested.

"I'll go by myself. I wanna tell her myself."

"Wait, why are you so concerned about Twilight?" Lyra asked.

"Because Ozone has a huge crush on her."

"Well, don't go telling everypony. I don't want Twilight to find out." I said before running towards the library. I got all sorts of looks from the ponies that witnessed my… fight with Krawler. I was almost out of Sugarcube Corner, when a familiar face caught my attention. "Rarity?"

She smiled awkwardly. "Hey, Ozone. How's your day been?"

"Did you see what just happened? What do you think?" She recoiled at my tone. "Sorry, it's… listen, have you seen Twilight?"

She nodded. "We were going to the spa, but somewhere along the way she must have slipped away. I suppose she's at the library."

I nodded. "Thanks." I ran towards the library. Once I made it to the library, I knocked twice.

Twilight answered with a smile. "Hey, Ozone. Where's Luna?"

"Listen, I have to tell you something really important. I don't know if you'll look at me the same way after I tell you, though. Can I come in?"

She already looked scared, as if knowing what I was about to tell her, but nodded and let me in. She closed the door behind her. "Ozone, are you alright? You look… shaken."

I nodded. "It's just… okay, here's what happened. Luna and I were walking through Sugarcube Corner, when I bumped into Lyra. We ended up sitting down and talking. All of a sudden, I was attacked."

She gasped. "By who?"

"A pony named Crawler. He's a pegasus that can't fly because he's too heavy."

"Explains the name."

"Anyway, he launched a blade at me, and I deflected it with my wing, the same way I deflected your punches." She nodded. "I was just dodging attack after attack, until we finally got some distance. At that point, I…" I decided to leave out the part about hearing the masked mare's voice in my head. "I used my alchemy."

She nodded. "So, what happened?"

I took a deep breath. "I killed him." The room was silent. I could almost hear my heart beat. "Listen, I need to talk with Princess Celestia for a bit. I should be back before nightfall." I didn't hear her protest, so I walked out the door and flew to Canterlot. _If Twilight doesn't accept me, then I don't know what to do… I need help._

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I was exhausted by the time I landed in front of the castle. I looked at the two guards, who blocked my path with their wings.

"Remember me?" No response. "Didn't think so." I extended my wing and got the guards to go wide-eyed.

"Oh, sorry Ozone." The guard on the left (which by the way was female) said. "We can never just assume these days."

"That's okay, I understand. I just need to talk to Princess Celestia for a while. There are some things I need to sort out."

"Sure." She turned to the guard next to her and nodded. They both retracted their wings, as did I. "Do you remember how to get to her quarters, or do you need me to escort you? Because I can get one of the other guards to cover-"

"Thanks, but I remember." I began to walk past them, but I turned to the female guard. "Oh, and nice to see you, Hawkeye."

She smiled. "Nice seeing you, Ozone."

I walked past them and into the castle.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I knocked on Princess Celestia's private quarters. I didn't get a response at first, but I heard hoofsteps and the door opened. She looked at me and smiled. "Hello, Ozone. I wasn't expecting you."

"I'm sorry I didn't let you know beforehand, but I really need to talk to you. Can I?"

She nodded. "Come right in."

I did as I was told and entered. She closed the door behind her. I looked around. _Nothing's changed, huh?_ There was still a fireplace with a rug in front of it, and a desk for her writings I guessed, since it was covered with supplies. There were sofas of either side of the rug. She had old paintings all over her walls. There were only two windows, which were covered by blinds at the moment. She layed down on one of the sofas. "Please, relax yourself. You look tense." I did just that. I took up the other sofa. "Let me guess; you wanted to talk about what happened at Sugarcube Corner?"

My heart started beating faster. "You heard about that? From who?" We both said "Luna" at the same time. "Yeah, I did actually. It was one of the ponies working with the masked mare."

"Is she still talking to you?"

I nodded. "She's the one who told me to use my Alchemy. She wanted to see what effect it would have on a live specimen."

"Hmm. I see."

"Do you know who those ponies are? I asked you before, but you refused to answer me."

She gave me a confused look. "You don't know about them? Who they are, what they're trying to accomplish?"

"Just that they're trying to kill Rainbow Dash."

She sighed. "I thought Luna would have slipped by now." Her look grew serious. "It's all linked back to you. They go by the name 'The Hybrid Seekers.' They're a group of ponies trying to artificially create an alicorn, or as close to an alicorn as they can get. They originally started with 48 members. Right now, there are only three surviving. Their names are Crawler, Denzel Weiss, and an unconfirmed mare."

I looked at the floor. "The masked mare…"

She nodded. "Something happened a little over a thousand years ago, and because of you they lost a lot of their progress."

"Wait, I wasn't alive a thousand years ago. How is that possible?"

She paused. "Actually, you were… born a thousand and thirty-nine years ago. You were one of their test subjects. In fact, you were bred to be a part of their experiments. One day, you broke free and destroyed their laboratory. You were captured about a year later and put into cryogenic sleep. You were unfrozen almost seventeen years ago, things went wrong and they had to revert you back into an infant. They dumped you on a random pony's doorstep and left a note saying your parents abandoned you. It would seem that the year you were asleep, that compound we found in you, your Alchemy, your wing, were all results of The Hybrid Seekers final test on you."

"So, it was them who attacked me in the forest…" I looked at her. "Where are you getting all of this information from?"

"Rainbow Dash's ancestors always had a way of leaking information to us." She paused. "I'm sorry. If you thought you had any chance of seeing your parents, I just completely dashed them."

I shook my head. "I'm actually okay with it. I mean, think about it. If none of that happened, I wouldn't be here right now."

"You also wouldn't have killed a pony."

Princess Celestia and I both turned to see Twilight in front of the door. "Twilight? Who let you in? How much did you hear?" Princess Celestia asked.

"I teleported in. I know you don't like me doing that, but I needed to know what you were talking about. As for what I heard, I heard everything. I didn't expect to hear Ozone's past, though."

"Twilight, what you just did was illegal, and I could have you detained for it. You took a serious risk coming here like that."

"I know and I'm sorry." She turned to me. "I'm also sorry I didn't say anything back there. I didn't know-"

I stood up and approached her and looked at the floor. "Twilight, I don't need an explanation. I just need to know if you can still look at me."

"What am I doing right now?" I looked up at her and she was smiling at me. "I don't think any less of you for it. I can't say I'm okay with it, but I can't say I hate you. I could never hate you."

I smiled. "Thanks, Twilight. I really needed to hear that from you. Now come on, give me a squeeze."

"A what?"

"A hug."

"Oh! Um, okay…" She hugged me and I heard Princess Celestia clapping her hooves together.

"It's good to see you two make up," She turned to Twilight. "But it still doesn't make what you did right."

We looked at each other and smiled. Twilight's horn began to glow, and we teleported out of there.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

We were laughing like mad when we appeared in the library. "Twilight," I said in a serious tone. She stopped laughing and looked at me. "That was so bad!"

She smiled. "I know it was, and I'm probably in a lot of trouble for it, but it felt… good."

"Oh no, we got a rebel!"

"Oh, stop it." She punched me and laughed. "Okay, I'll let you get back to your day with Luna."

"No, that won't be necessary." Luna was sitting at the table, eating an apple. Next to her was Lyra. "I think after what happened earlier, Ozone would be better off laying low for a while." She got up and headed for the door. "I'll keep you posted. I'll let you know when it's safe to come out. Under no circumstances can you leave. I don't want to risk another attack or something." She walked out the door and closed it almost noiselessly.

"Mmm! These apples are delicious! Where did you get them?"

"Sweet Apple Acres. You can go there if you-" The door slammed shut before she could finish. "Yeah."

I smiled. "Well, looks like I'm stuck here for a while. Whaddaya wanna do?" We kind of just stood there in silence for a while. Neither of us could think of anything to do. I finally thought of something. "So, you heard my story. I'll tell you about my most recent life if you tell me about yours. Deal?"

I think she literally lit up at the idea. "Where do I start?"

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

It was well past nightfall by the time we were done exchanging stories. We had moved up to the balcony for obvious reasons. We shared quite a bit of laughing, and sometimes cried a little. I even told her about Rainbow's nightmares.

"I have to say, you have a pretty interesting life." Twilight said.

"I guess it comes with the package. You know, one wing, Alchemy, psycho ponies trying to kill my sister." I yawned. "It's getting late. I'm gonna turn in."

She yawned as well. "Yeah, I guess it is a little late. See you tomorrow." She got up and walked away.

_Come on, Ozone! This is your chance to tell her you like her, just do it!_ "Uh, Twilight?"

She stopped and looked at me. "Yeah?"

_Don't back down, you got this!_ "Um… are your highlights natural?" _Idiot._

She nodded. "Why?"

"They're pretty." _Well, at least you got the compliment part right._

She visibly blushed. "Thanks." She paused. "I… ugh, I'm not good at this." She thought for a minute, then smiled. "Remember two nights ago when we were listening to music and I thought I was being annoying?" I nodded. "Your eyes looked amazing under the moonlight when you were saying I wasn't."

"Really? Thanks."

Yet another awkward moment. "Well, goodnight, Ozone."

"Night, Twilight." She walked inside after that.

I fell onto my sleeping bag. "Ozone, it's four simple words." Twilight, I like you. "It shouldn't be this difficult."

_**Aww, isn't that adorable? Little Ozone, letting a filly get the best of him. And calling me a psycho isn't very nice.**_

"Listen, you. Get out of my head!"

_**What, you don't like our little exchanges?**_

"Your making me go insane."

_**That's too bad. I'm starting to enjoy this.**_

"I think you're even more insane than I am."

_**That might be the case, but to everypony else it's quite the opposite. I think I prefer this instead of invading your dreams. You know what? Forget your dreams. From now on, this is our form of communication.**_

"And I don't have a say in this?"

_**Why would you? **_She sighed. _**I'll let you get your sleep. I, for one, am quite the busy mare.**_

"Please, just leave me alone." And that she did. I sighed and fell asleep immediately.

To be continued…


	5. Chapter 5

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro, Studio B Productions, and Lauren Faust (like a faust).

Dilemmas of the PerpliXing

Chapter 5

"Mom, Dad! I'm home!" I yelled as I walked through the door.

"Dad's at work!" Mom yelled through the kitchen. She came into the living room and hugged me. "We missed you do much. And you never wrote to us!"

"I'm sorry, but that just means I can tell you everything in person!"

"When Dad gets home, I want you to tell us all about your vacation."

"Okay, I'm going up to my room now." She nodded and I made my way up to my room. When I walked in, I dropped my bag and gasped. There was a letter on my bed, and it had the royal seal on it. Hmm, why would the princess send me a letter? I opened it and a golden ticket fell out of it. What's this? I read the letter:

Dear Ozone,

It's me, Luna! I know this is kind of early, but here's your birthday present. A ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala! I know the gala isn't for a few months, but I just needed and excuse to send you a ticket. I never really found out if you liked dances or not, but I just want to let you know that big sister's inviting Twilight and her friends. After what happened at the last gala, I think those fillies are in need of a little redemption.

If you decide to come (which I hope you do), you should dress up. This is sort of a formal event, and I don't want you embarrassed because you're underdressed. I think it would be in everypony's best interest if you were there. This'll be my first one in a thousand years, so I would really appreciate it if you made it.

Hope to see you soon,

Princess Luna

P.S. - Big sister wants you back at school after winter break.

I looked at the ticket. It was indeed admission for one to the Grand Galloping Gala. I smiled. _There's no way I'm missing this. I've never really liked dances, but then again, I've never had a reason to go._ I set the ticket on my nightstand. I almost started relaxing, but there was a tapping at the window. I groaned and got up to check it out.

Gilda was hovering outside my window and smiled when she saw me. I opened my window and let her in. "Hey, Ozone!"

I sighed. "Hey, Gilda. What's up?"

"Well, I could tell you that, or I could tell you how I've been."

"I don't know, they both have the same level of appeal towards me."

"Okay, well I just wanted to know if you're free to do something today."

"Yeah, I don't have anything planned. What did you have in mind?"

She looked around my room. "Oh, nothing rea-" She saw my letter and the ticket. She picked up the ticket. "What's… the Grand Galloping Gala?"

"Oh, it's a dance."

She gave me a confused look. "Since when do you go to dances?"

I smiled. "I've never had a reason to go until recently." I stared into space and started thinking about Twilight.

Thankfully, Gilda snapped me out of it. "Okay, we have to have a serious talk."

I gestured towards the window. "Lead the way."

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"Wait, you have a crush on the bookworm? Of all of them, the bookworm?"

"Hey, that hurts. How do you think I graduated so early?"

She shrugged. "I guess I just never suspected it. So, you takin' her to that dance?"

I shook my head. "I don't think it's a good idea. I'll just hang out with her while I'm there."

She punched my shoulder. "C'mon, Ozone. Since when have you been afraid of talking to mares?"

"Since I legitimately like this one." I sighed. "With the way things are, something's gonna happen and we're gonna be pushed together at some point. I can feel it."

She laughed. "Alright, I guess if you really don't want her for yourself you don't have to listen to me."

"And just what would you know about romance? I haven't seen you with anybody since the day we met."

"Ever heard of romance novels? Your current situation is like one, but without the romance."

"I know." I looked at the sky. "But it'll all be worth it in the end."

"It better be. I don't wanna hang out with some lovesick stallion that had his chance but missed it."

I punched her in the arm. "Thanks." We both laughed. It was nice, just hanging around like this.

"So, what've you decided to do on your birthday?"

Oh, crap. I forgot my birthday is in a few days. "I haven't really thought about it. Did you have something in mind?"

She shrugged. "Ozone, your turning seventeen in two days. You've never been on a date, you have about twenty friends, and I'm starting to think your insane." She put her talon ok my shoulder. "It's time to make your own decisions."

I nodded. "Alright, I have an idea."

"Yeah?"

"I want my own place."

"You are aware you'll have to get a job, right?"

I nodded. "I'll find something at the university. I'm sure they have some opening somewhere."

She nodded. "That sounds pretty good. That'll be my present to you."

"Wait, I'm the one-"

"I don't wanna hear it. You deserve it."

"Alright, your buying the house."

"… What are you talking about? I'm not buying your house. Do it yourself." She crossed her arms and looked away.

"That's what I thought." I poked her. "Hey, c'mon." She didn't budge. I gave up and fell onto my back. "Gilda?"

She turned to me and uncrossed her arms. "Yeah?"

"How's your life going?"

She sighed and fell onto her back as well. She put her arms behind her head. "Ozone, you know how my life is. Dad gives me crap, I take it, grass grows, and wind blows. Nothing's 'going' right now."

"Really? You sure there isn't anything you want to talk about?"

"Ozone, you don't need to worry about me. I'm a tough griffon. But I'll definitely come to you if something ever goes wrong."

I turned to see her smiling at me. "Thanks Gilda. That really means a lot to me."

"I know." She looked at the sky. "You know, Rainbow Dash sent me a letter while you were gone."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought you two got in a fight."

"That's just it. It was an apology letter. She even asked me to visit her again."

"Wow. you're really lucky to have her as a friend."

"I didn't even know she still considered me a friend." She sat up and stared at the ground. "I screwed up so badly, and she's still willing to accept me. I am really lucky to have her."

"So," I got up and put my hoof on her shoulder. "When are you gonna visit her?"

She sighed. "I don't know, but when I do, can you come with me?"

"Not if you want me to stand next to you the entire time."

"Don't bother coming."

I smiled. "Thought so."

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

With the help of Gilda, I decided to build my own cloud house. Believe me, getting Gilda to help me was like trying to teach an earth pony to fly, but she eventually gave in and said she would help me. It took almost the entire day, even with Gilda helping. We started just shortly after daybreak. It was almost noon by the time we got the exterior right. We took a lunch break then got right back to work before one o'clock. It was almost ten o'clock by the time we were completely done. We dropped onto the floor and nearly passed out. I could hear Gilda gasping for air. I crawled over to her. "Gilda, we did it."

"I thought we built your house."

I punched her with the strength I had. "You know what I meant."

She laughed and slowly sat up. "Yeah, but you have to admit, it was still funny."

I nodded and sat next to her. "Well, the house is finished. Now all I have to do is move my things from Mom and Dad's house into this one." I paused. We both looked at each other. "I'll do it tomorrow." I fell onto my back. "Gilda, It's getting late. You should get back home."

"Ozone, my dad doesn't care if I come back today or next year. I'm just gonna crash here tonight."

I sighed. "Alright, the guest bedroom is right next to mine. I'm going to bed now."

I went up the stairs and opened the last door on the left. My bed was right inside the door, so I fell onto it and went to sleep.

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Gilda»

When I saw Ozone go up the stairs, I figured there was nothing left for me to do, so I went into the guest bedroom. When I jumped into the bed, I immediately fell asleep.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I opened my eyes and was greeted with Ozone staring at me. He had his chin on his forelimbs, which were crossed on the bed. When I blinked he smiled. "You know, if you were trying to freak me out," I pushed his head and he fell on his back. "it didn't work."

He started laughing. "You know, you may look vicious now, but you're so cute when you're asleep."

Um… okay? I felt myself smiling, and I almost punched him because he saw it and started laughing. "Hey, that's not funny!"

"I'm sorry. Oh hey, did you know you make little moans when you snore?"

I growled. "Shut up!"

He took a step back. "Sorry. I didn't know you were-"

"I'm outta here." I jumped out of bed and headed for the window.

"Gilda wait!"

"Don't come looking for me." I jumped out of the window and flew towards my house. Wait, what am I doing? I don't feel like dealing with him right now. I instead landed on the nearest cloud and layed down. I shouldn't have reacted like that. It was silly, I don't know why I shouted and ran off like that. I sighed. I need to be alone for a while. Maybe I'll go back home before the end of the week.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I walked in through the back door and closed it quietly. The light came on and I looked at the recliner. Dad was sitting in it, waiting for me. "Gilda, you've been gone for six days, not counting the day you said you'd be back. Building a cloud house shouldn't take that long."

"I was done building on the first day. I just stayed out the rest. And since when do you care if I came back late?"

"You've never stayed out for more than a day or two."

"Well I'm sorry."

He got up and approached me. "I know how you sneak out of your room at night. Looks like grounding you isn't gonna cut it this time."

His breath smelt funny. "Dad, what's the deal? You're not drinking your usual."

"I've moved on to somethin' a little stronger. Why?"

"Dad, do I need to put that stuff in a high place?" I asked, smiling.

He pushed me against the wall. "Shut up. Don't mess with me. Now sit down, we need to talk."

"Can't I just go to my room?"

"Gilda, sit down. Now."

"Or what, you'll hurt me like you do every time you drink?"

He swung at me, but I ducked and he hit his hand on the wall. He yelled in pain.

_Geez, that was faster than usual. This stuff's the real deal_. "Dad, go to bed." I was doing this on purpose. It was always funny to see him like this. I don't let him hear me laugh, I'm actually scared of what he might do.

"Shu-" Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap. I let a laugh slip out. He picked me up by the throat. "You're laughing? You think this is funny? Let's see you laugh after this!" That's when he crossed the line. He slashed my left eye with his claw. Blood was dripping down my face like tears. He threw me at the wall. I coughed after I hit the ground. "I told you not to mess with me, but no! You just had to keep talking, didn't you?" He stomped the floor in front of me. I flinched in surprise and started crying. I crawled towards the door as fast as I could. "Get out of my sight. I don't feel like hearing you cry."

When I closed the door, I stood up and put my claw over my eye. I could feel the places his talons cut me, and I could feel the blood slowly sliding down my face. _Man, he even went off the deep end faster, and more violently as well_. I started crying again. _Don't worry, Dad. I'll leave. And this time, I'm not coming back._ I took off and headed for Equestria. As I flew over the outskirts, I noticed it was snowing. _Crap. How long has it been snowing? Screw flying, I'm landing_. I touched down in a field of snow-covered flowers. I looked around and noticed a stream. _How did I not notice that when I was flying?_ I walked over to it and looked at my reflection. There were three slashes on the left side of my face, two of them going over my eye. The blood dripping down my face was beginning to dry. My tears were carrying what wasn't dry. I continued to stare at myself. It started to hurt a lot. _I don't care anymore._

Or at least, I didn't care, until I heard an all too familiar voice yell, "Gilda!"

POV Switch

«Gilda—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

"Mom, Dad! You guys here?"

"In the living room!" Dad called.

I walked into the living room and saw them sitting next to each other on the sofa. "I haven't seen Gilda in a few hours and I'm starting to worry. I'm going to go look for her. I just wanted to let you know because I won't be home. Also, can I have about a hundred bits? It's to buy food in case I'm out for a while."

Mom nodded. "Alright, just don't get hurt too much." Mom knew I couldn't not get hurt, so she gave up a long time ago.

I grabbed her purse and dumped approximately one hundred bits into a small pouch. I then tied it shut and wore it like a necklace. I nodded. "Thanks." I headed out the door. When I stepped outside, I felt it snowing. I ignored it. _Gotta find Gilda. No matter how cold it is._

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

_It's been almost a week, and I still haven't seen her. Where could she be?_ I saw a brown and white figure near the stream outside Equestria. I immediately dove towards it. _I never would have suspected here_. When I landed, I called, "Gilda!" She visibly jumped when I said that, and I ran over to her. "Gilda, I'm so glad I found you! I was worried when you never came back. I've been looking for you for days, where have you been?" She didn't answer. "Gilda, are you okay? Why are covering your left eye?"

"It's nothing." She said quickly.

"Gilda, you're bleeding! What happened?" She didn't answer. I tackled her to the ground and pinned her limbs under mine. "Gilda-" I gasped when I saw why she was covering her eye. It was bleeding and it had slashes across it. Not just her eyelids, I could see them across her actual eye. She was also crying, but I would be too if that happened to me. She wouldn't make eye contact. I quickly got off of her and she covered her eye back up. "Gilda, what happened? Who did this?"

She hesitated. "Dad."

I quickly grew angry. "When you said your dad was giving you crap, I didn't know he was beating you!"

"It's never been this bad-"

"And you also said if anything was wrong, you'd come see me. Well, where were you? I've been looking for you for almost an entire week!" I raised my voice.

She flinched at my volume, but retaliated just as loud. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry if my first instinct was to get out of there! I'm so sorry that I didn't think of you while my dad decided to get drunk off his ass and nearly killed me! I'm so freaking sorry!". She gasped and completely broke down. She put her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, Ozone! I didn't mean to yell like that. Please don't be mad at me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She continued to cry.

I tried to say something, but I couldn't. I walked up to her and hugged her. "Gilda, I don't care how loud you yell at me. I will never get mad at you. You're one of my best friends in the entire world, and I won't let something as stupid as an argument come between us."

I heard her start to cry again. She hugged me back tightly. "I'm so glad you're my friend."

"Same here. And Gilda? You're cold."

She shifted a little. "Now that you mention it, I am."

I extended my wing and wrapped it around her. "Better?"

She pulled me closer and basically curled around me. "Much." I could feel her smile.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"You can stay as long as you want, I don't mind in the slightest." I said as we walked through the door. "I need to inform Princess Celestia about this. No one does this to one of my friends and gets away with it."

"Listen, I know you're mad, but is it necessary to call in the royal army?"

I sighed. "I guess I could just ask Princess Celestia to contact griffon authorities or something." I went into my room and sat in front of my desk. I grabbed a pencil and began to write.

Dear Princess Celestia,

It's me, Ozone. I have my griffin friend Gilda here. She got beaten up pretty badly by her dad, and I wanted to ask you if you could possibly inform the griffon authorities about her dad.

I also wanted to ask if we could possibly come to the castle as soon as possible to get Gilda checked out.

Sincerely,

iX Ozone

I then rolled up the letter and threw it into my candle of green fire (something Twilight made as a going away gift), sending it.

She smiled. "Man, I can't wait to see what they do with him."

"Probably not as much as they should." I said, walking past her.

"What are you talking about?"

I looked at her. "Well, since you never reported him before, he won't be charged as much as he would be if you reported him every time he abused you. They have no records of past abuses, and they can't just go off your word. Your only proof for this incident is your eye."

She rubbed her back. "He also threw me against the wall and banged up my back a little."

I walked into the bathroom and turned on the hot water in the tub. "Do you want me to get you something for your back?"

"No thanks, I'll live. I'm more worried about my eye."

Satisfied with the temperature, I let the tub fill. "We're going over to the castle as soon as I'm done defrosting."

"I still can't believe you spent six days looking for me."

"I care about you, Gilda. I thought you just needed some time to yourself, but when you didn't come back after a couple of hours, I started getting worried. I didn't stop unless it was to eat. I flew into the nearest town and bough something."

"With who's money?"

"Mom's."

She nodded. "Thought so."

I looked at the tub and noticed it was almost full. I turned off the water and tested it. "Perfect." I turned to Gilda. "Are you planning to stay here while I sit in the tub?"

"No thanks. I'll be in the living room watching TV."

She then walked out and closed the door behind her. I slowly slid myself into the tub and relaxed.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

My hooves were starting to get all pruney, so I got out and drained the tub. I shook myself dry and walked into my room. There was a letter with the royal seal on it. I smiled and opened it.

_Dear Ozone,_

_ I'm sorry to hear about your friend, and I will do something about it. It would actually be better if you were to come here before tomorrow so I could personally see the extent of Gilda's injuries._

_ Expecting a visit,_

_ Princess Celestia_

I went into the living room and saw Gilda still watching TV. "Alright, Gilda! Let's roll."

She got up and walked past me. "You're leading, because I have absolutely no idea how to get there."

I walked outside and stood next to Gilda. "Obviously." I said before taking off, making sure Gilda was right behind me.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

It was difficult to see, but we made it to the castle in one piece. We approached the guards, and I noticed Sunshine wasn't there. The guards saw us and nodded, allowing us to pass. I thanked them and gestures for Gilda to follow me. When we were inside the castle, Princess Celestia was waiting for us with a nurse mare. "Hello, Ozone." She turned to Gilda. "Ah, so your name is Gilda. We met at the hospital, but I never got your name. I just wish it was under better circumstances." She gestured for the nurse mare to go to Gilda. I stood next to Princess Celestia as the nurse mare worked on Gilda's eye. "I was able to contact the head of the Griffon National Police Department. He said Gilda's father will be held in prison until we can take him to court."

"When will that be?"

"Friday was the earliest date we could agree on."

I nodded and watched as the nurse mare put a gauze pad on Gilda's eye, then put medical tape over it. The nurse mare stepped aside. "Now, I'm giving Ozone some replacement gauze pads and medical tape. He needs to replace it every couple of days. I don't want you coming back with some weird infection. Your dad clearly _does not_ wash his talons often."

"Wait, how do you know my name?" I asked the nurse pony.

"C'mon, Ozone. I thought the voice would have given it away." She took off the nurse cap and undid her hair, letting a long turquoise-striped yellow mane drop almost to the floor.

I gasped. "Hawkeye! I thought you were a guard."

She nodded. "I'm a mare of many talents. Just don't be too surprised if you see me in other places."

I nodded and I walked up to Gilda. "So, how does it feel?"

"Better, that's for sure." She turned to the nurse mare and Princess Celestia. "Thanks for everything you're doing for me."

"You're quite welcome. Now, you should get some rest. You only have a few days until your father's trial."

She nodded and turned to me. "Let's go, Ozone. She's right," She yawned. "I am a little sleepy."

I spread my wing and picked her up. "Thank you, Princess Celestia."

She smiled. "Just don't make bringing your injured friends here a regular occurrence, okay?"

I nodded and looked at Gilda. She was asleep and making those cute little moans while she snored. I smiled and flew out the door and home.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"Gilda, wake up! Time to get ready for court!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

She yelled, "I've been awake for two hours and I'm almost ready!" I paced back and forth waiting for her. She finally came down the stairs, quickly smoothing her head feathers.

"What took you so long?"

She gave one of those "you serious, bro?" faces. "Did honestly miss the fact I'm actually wearing clothes?"

I actually had. She was wearing a light blue business-type dress. "How did I miss that? I'm the one that bought that for you."

"I don't know, but I'm gonna be late if I don't leave, like, now. I'll be back before tomorrow."

She was nearly out the door when I stopped her. "Gilda?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck."

She smiled. "Thanks." She took off.

I sighed. "I can understand why she didn't want me to come, but wouldn't it make a little sense if I was there as some sort of witness?" I shrugged. "I don't really know about this kind of stuff, so I can only trust Gilda." I knew she would be fine, so I went into the living room to watch some hoofball.

_**Been a while, huh?**_

"What could you possibly want?" I asked, annoyed.

_**Oh, nothing. Progress is slow, and Denzel won't come out of the computer lab, so I'm all alone.**_

"Progress? What are you guys working on?"

_**If you must know, I'm writing a book, and I have no idea where I'm going with it. Why, what did you think I was doing?**_

"You know, I feel like you accept me as an equal with the way you're talking to me."

_**Don't get ahead of yourself. We still want you dead, but now's just not a good time.**_

"And what's stopping you from going after Rainbow right now?"

_**You. If we kill her before we kill you, everything we've done to get this far will have all been for nothing. You hold more power than the princesses are even aware of.**_

"So you're afraid I'll kill you all off in a fit of rage? You'd be right if that's what you really think will happen."

_**That's exactly why we're going for you first.**_

"Hey, has it ever occurred to you that you shouldn't be telling me things like this?"

_**Yes. But honestly, I don't care. You're life is short, I'll let you get through it as quick as you can.**_

"What do you mean? What about your life?"

_**That, my dear, is something I cannot reveal.**_ She gasped. _**I just got a really good idea for my book! Don't wait up for me!**_

When I was sure she was gone, I sighed. "Sometimes, she can be so… normal."

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!" Gilda practically busted the door down in excitement.

I ran up to her. "You won the case?" I asked eagerly.

She nodded. "That bastard gets fifteen years in prison! By the time he gets out, I'll already have my own life." She tackled me to the ground. "Do you know what this means?"

"You get stronger the more excited you are? Because you're crushing my legs."

She got off and laughed nervously. "Sorry. I'm just so excited! This means I don't have to deal with him ever again!" She proceeded to dance around the kitchen.

"That's awesome! So, is there anything special you feel like doing to celebrate?"

She stopped dancing and stared at me. "What do you mean?"

"Today, you pick what we do. It doesn't have to be today, but it's still your choice what we do."

"Really?" She shrugged and looked at the ground. "I don't know. I've never been asked that before, not even by Dad."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I paused. "Hey, I have an idea." I walked up to her and she looked at me. "Why don't we go to Ponyville to tell Rainbow?"

She thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, that would be a good idea. But can we go tomorrow? I don't feel like moving for the rest of the day."

I smiled. "Okay, get your rest." I took up a heroic pose and looked upwards. "Tomorrow, we set sail for Ponyville!" I looked at Gilda, who had dropped to the ground, asleep. I picked her up and put her in the guest room bed. You know, she's gonna be living here for a while, I might as well make this her room for the time being. After setting her down, I looked at the clock. "Well, no point in staying up if you have nothing to do." I yawned and walked into my room, only to see a letter next to the candle. This letter didn't have a royal seal on it. "Hmm. Odd, who could possibly be sending me mail?" I opened it and smiled as I noticed the handwriting.

Dear Ozone,

I'm so sorry! I didn't get a chance to tell you happy birthday! This isn't just from me, though. It's from everypony here! I won't name everypony off, the letter would be too long. I just wanted you to know we didn't forget, and we miss you.

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle

_Twilight, I hope you know how awesome you are_. I set the letter on my desk and got into bed. I can't wait to see the look on her face tomorrow.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"You're here!" She yelled as she tackled me to the ground, both of us laughing the entire time.

"Yes, I'm here. Now, do you want me dead or alive? It all depends on whether or not you decide to stop crushing me."

Instead of just stepping off, she jumped and ran backwards at an alarming speed. She ended up hitting the wall behind her, knocking over some books.

Gilda was behind me, watching the whole scene play out. I turned to her. "Yep, that's her."

She smiled. "You two are gonna have such creepy kids."

I had to laugh at that. "Well, I can check surprise Twilight off my checklist for today. Let's go see Rainbow."

"Uh," she pointed towards the library door, "shouldn't you check on her? I think she hit the wall pretty hard."

I looked in the door. She was face-down with a few books piled on her head. She wasn't moving. "She should be fine. Let's go." She nodded and we walked away.

We found Rainbow's cloud home with Gilda's help. "Well, here we are." she said.

"Yes," I punched her in the arm. "now go up there and talk to her."

She sighed, but nodded. She flew upwards and landed on the stairs. She looked down at me, but I waved my hoof and walked away.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"Are you sure she's okay?" Spike asked.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Nothing to worry about."

We had put her on her bed and stacked a few ice packs on her head. There was a nasty bump on her head, and it took all Spike had not to vomit. "Well, I'm not staying here just to stare at that… thing in her head. You got it from here, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure I can handle things if she wakes up."

He gave me a horrified look. "'If'?"

"No, I said 'when' she wakes up. Now go, I don't want your dragon puke on me."

He nodded and went downstairs. I looked at Twilight. She wasn't snoring or anything, but we were pretty sure she was just sleeping. I sat on the floor and just stayed quiet, waiting for any signs of life.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"Ow, why's my head cold?"

I got up and saw Twilight sitting up, looking at the ice packs around where her head was. I jumped in the air and hugged her. "Twilight!"

She was taken by surprise and fell backwards. I was awkwardly situated on top her, trapping her under my legs. Neither of us moved, just staring at each other. She laughed nervously. "Hey, Ozone. How's your day been?"

I shrugged. "Okay, but there was this weird incident at Twilight's where..." I looked around. "Oh yeah, that's happening now." I got off of her and jumped on the floor.

She didn't even seem mad. "So, those books hit me pretty hard, huh?"

"I guess that's what you get for hitting them for all these years."

We laughed at that. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right."

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I would have guessed you and Rainbow were actually related."

"I do act like her sometimes, don't I?"

"Twilight, you're okay!" Spike came running up the stairs. He jumped on Twilight. "Twilight, you shouldn't be sitting up. We need that bump iced at all times."

She layed back down and sighed. Spike got off of her. "I guess it was pretty stupid of me to do that."

"But it was pretty funny." I commented.

"Anyway, I have a question." She turned to me. "Why are you here?"

"Well, some things happened and I wanted Gilda to talk to Rainbow. Today seemed like an okay day to do it."

"Okay, well warn me next time. I can't afford to get one of these," she pointed to her bump. "every time you come here."

"But it's so funny how you reacted!" I sighed. "I guess I can send you a letter ahead of time for these things."

"Especially because tomorrow's Hearth's Warming."

I face-hoofed. I completely forgot about Hearth's warming. "Sorry, Twilight."

"Ozone, you don't need to feel sorry about anything. I'm not complaining."

There was sort of an awkward silence because I couldn't think of anything to say. Thankfully, there was a knock at the door. "I'm coming in." Gilda yelled.

I turned to Twilight. "Well, I'm gonna be leaving."

"Okay. Have a nice Hearth's Warming."

I smiled. "You, too."

I went down the stairs to meet Gilda. She waves at me with a smile. "Come on, Ozone. Let's get going."

"Hey, it's my house. We should be able to get there whenever I want to get there."

"Whatever. You know how freezing cold it's been."

"That just means its cuddle season!"

"Ozone, we aren't cuddling. We have not cuddled, and we never will. Got that?"

I pouted. "You're no fun." I walked past her and outside. I turned around and she closed the door. I hugged her. "Come on, you know you want to."

"You're crazy."

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"Who's crazy?"

"Me." Gilda finally admitted defeat as we sat in front of a fire in the living room. We had my wing wrapped around us, and we both had a mug of hot chocolate. "I still think this is a little too… romantic."

"Why? Is it the fire? I can get rid of the fire."

She laughed. "It's alright. I just don't want you making a move or anything."

"Gilda, if there was any chance I found you attractive, we wouldn't just be sitting here."

"Ozone, sometimes you scare me."

I took a sip of my hot chocolate. "Hey, Gilda?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever had a crush?"

She laughed. "Nah, man. You know how much of an outcast I am. I don't have any connections with griffons."

"You've never felt that way towards a pony?"

"Honestly?" I nodded. "I haven't thought about it before. I mean, you and Rainbow Dash are my only friends. I don't have feelings for either one of you." She looked at me. "Why do you want to know if I like someone all of a sudden?"

"I don't know. You never talk about that kind of stuff."

"I guess I'm just waiting for 'the one' to come into my life. If I'm getting my heart smashed, it's only gonna get smashed once."

"I guess that makes sense. And Gilda? You're a great friend."

"That's something I should be saying to you. You're letting me stay at your house for as long as I want."

"Gilda, what would happen if I did like you?"

"I'd think you were crazy."

"And that's it?"

"Yeah." She sipped her hot chocolate. "

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I awoke with a dry mouth. There was also a thumping in my pillow. I looked at my pillow, and realized it wasn't a pillow, it was Gilda's chest. Oh, right. I forgot we had fallen asleep out here. I always did love how comfy her feathers were. I got up and stretched. There was a loud knocking at the door, and I groaned. Who could possibly be knocking on my door on Christmas? I walked up to the door and heard giggling.

When I opened the door, two mares tackled me to the ground. I looked at them, and realized it was Rainbow and Fluttershy. "Hey, Ozone!" Rainbow said.

"Happy Hearth's Warming!" Fluttershy said as loud as her cute little voice could.

I hugged them. "Why do I always forget about Hearth's Warming?" I got up and faced them. "What are you two doing here? Not that I don't want you here or anything, but this is a little surprising."

Fluttershy giggled. "Well, you see, Rainbow said Hearth's Warming is a holiday to spend with the family, so she said we should all spend the day together!"

Rainbow nodded. "Pretty good idea, huh?"

I nodded. "This is so awesome!" My smiled faded. "But, what about Gilda? Her only family is in jail."

"Well, I would consider the two of you siblings." Rainbow said. "And that means she's our sibling, so everything works out! Where is she?"

I laughed and scratched the back of my head. "She's passed out on the living room floor. We kind of had a late night." I looked at their faces. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

They broke into a fit of laughter. "In any case we're, staying here for the day. What should we do?"

I thought for a moment, then I broke my thought light bulb. I smiled at Rainbow. "So, are you still as good a flier as you are awesome?"

She smiled. "I don't know. Wanna find out?"

Fluttershy sighed. "I don't think this is what we meant…"

"Oh, crap! I have to wake Gilda up. Be right back." I ran into the living room and shook Gilda gently. "Gilda?"

"Ozone, are we gonna cuddle again?"

I turned around to see Rainbow and Fluttershy holding back their laughter. "No, Gilda. Rainbow and Fluttershy are in the kitchen, and can hear everything we say." She sat upright faster than Rainbiw can fly. She straightened her feathers and went into the kitchen to greet Rainbow and Fluttershy. "I was just about to race Rainbow. Wanna watch? You race the winner?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I need some time to wake up." She turned to Fluttershy. "Hi."

"Hi." Fluttershy said, quietly.

"Listen," She took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry about yelling at you. Your pink friend was annoying me and I took it out on you. I know how wrong I was and I just want to know if there's a chance you'll forgive me."

Fluttershy hugged her. "I've long since forgiven you. You don't need to be sorry."

Gilda hugged her back. "I just really needed to tell you. I would have had a guilty conscience until I did."

"Awwww." Rainbow and I said together.

Gilda let go and faced us. "So, you two racing or what?"

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"Okay, it's one lap around Cloudsdale. First one to the finish line gets to race Gilda." I looked at Rainbow. "Are you ready?"

She nodded. "Fluttershy, start the countdown!"

Fluttershy nodded and raised a flag. "Five… Four… Three… Two… One… GO!"

We took off at a lightning fast speed. I took not one second to look back as I sped around the circumference of Cloudsdale (because, honestly, it's like a circle). I arrived at the finishing line and I heard the flag drop. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked back. "Aw man. Rainbow beat me."

"Actually, she never left."

"What?" I walked over to her. "What happened?"

"You took off so fast, I didn't have time to react."

"Yeah, that was only, like, five seconds." Gilda said, looking at Fluttershy's stopwatch.

"Aww, that's no fair. Rainbow didn't even leave the starting line, so I can't count that as a win."

"So, you want a rematch?"

"No, I'm good. I could go for some hot chocolate or something, though."

I smiled. "Alright, let's get back to my place and I'll make some." I looked up at Fluttershy and Gilda. "Hey, we're going back. You coming?"

They looked at each other and nodded. They flew down and we all stood in a line. We then took off towards my cloud house.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

We were all seated in front of the fireplace drinking our hot chocolate. I looked at everyone, and they were all happy. "See? This is what's Christmas is all about. Spending time with the family."

They all nodded. "Just kind of sucks how you're going back to the university in less than two weeks." Gilda said.

"Don't worry you're feathered little head. Rainbow said if you wanted, there's an opening in the weather team. Since I won't be here, you kind of need a job to support yourself."

Gilda nodded. "No way I'm passing that up."

"So, we have a plan?" Everypony nodded. "Alright, all in." I put my left forehoof in the middle. Gilda sighed but did the same. Rainbow and Fluttershy followed soon after. "Break on 3, ready? 1… 2… 3!"

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I flashed my student card to the security guard at the gate. He nodded and let me in. I nodded back as I walked past him. When I made it to my dorm, it was dark. I turned on the light, and there was a loud "SURPRISE!" and I jumped. About fifty ponies were gathered and wearing party hats. There was a banner with the words "Welcome Back, Ozone!" being held up by five ponies. I looked around, and saw a gigantic cake with the same message the banner had. One of the ponies walked up to me. It was one of my friends, Colgate. "Do I really need to say it?"

I hugged her. "No, I got the message." I looked at all the ponies. They were all ponies I knew, and they were all smiling. "Colgate, did you do all this?"

She smiled. "Not all of it. I had a little help from everypony. We all missed you. After we heard what happened, we weren't just gonna half-flank this party."

"Aww, thanks everypony. You guys are awesome. Now, are we just gonna stand here, or are we gonna pretend to eat that cake, but end up throwing it at each other in the end?" There was an uproar of cheers.

To be continued…

**Authour's note**: Sorry if this was kind of a filler chapter. I had to fit the Gilda thing in somewhere, and I really liked the idea of it being in winter. There's just one more chapter in this story! I'm very excited about this, and can't wait to get it out there. So find some other fic to read while I work on this. It should be up faster since I'm really pumped about the ending. Stay tuned!


	6. Chapter 6

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro, Studio B Productions, and Lauren Faust (like a Faust).

Dilemmas of the PerpliXing

Chapter 6

"Ozone, you only have one hour to get to that dance of yours. Hurry up!"

I quickly did the final button on my tuxedo and ran downstairs to Gilda. "Sorry, but you refused to help me. I was having a lot of trouble."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Now, where are you guys meeting up again?"

"Twilight's library."

"Okay, then you better get down there!" I was about to walk away, but she stopped me. "Wait, let me just…" She started messing with my mane and straightening my tux.

"Gilda? Gilda. Gilda!" She stopped. "I got this."

I walked out the door and heard Gilda yell, "Get the girl!" I smiled and took off as fast as I could towards the library.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

I guess crashing through the window of the library isn't the best hello I could have given. Luckily, I landed on Spike's bed (without him being in it). I walked downstairs to see Applejack and Rarity in their dresses. I have to admit, my jaw dropped. They were absolutely beautiful. They saw me with my jaw open and giggled. I regained my composure and walked over to them. "Hey."

"Well howdy, Ozone. Lookin' sharp." Applejack commented.

"Yes Ozone, that tuxedo is a masterpiece! You must tell me where you found this!"

"Rarity, you made this for me."

She cocked her head. "I did?"

I nodded. "This is an up scaled version of the tuxedo I modeled for when we were little kids. I had you send this to me about a month ago."

"Hmm. I don't recall that," she smiled. "but I'll take your word for it."

"An' if ya think we look good, wait 'til you get a load o' Twilight. She's goin' all out for this gala, hopin' it'll give her some luck."

"As oppose to last year?" She nodded. "Where is she? I didn't see her when I crashed through the window."

"Oh, she's at my boutique." Rarity frowned. "She insisted nopony saw not disturbed her. She should be here any minute now."

The door opened, and Rainbow stepped in, followed be Fluttershy and Pinkie. "Hey everypony!" Rainbow greeted. "Sorry we're a little late. Pinkie had some trouble with her dress and she needed me and Fluttershy's help."

Rarity sighed. "You said you didn't need me to make you a new one."

"Well, I didn't. But after a long series of unusual and," she giggled, "funny events last night, the dress shrank and I forgot to get the potion to make it big again."

I blinked and looked at Rainbow and Fluttershy. "Any news on Twilight?"

"We told her it was almost time to leave, but she wouldn't come out." Rainbow shrugged. "She's better get here in time. If she even dares to disappoint Ozone like this…"

"Rainbow, don't be like that." Fluttershy said. "I'm sure Twilight has a perfectly good reason for running late."

The doors burst open one last time, revealing Twilight and her dress. "Sorry I'm late, everypony."

"Twilight? What the hay? You didn't do anything to your dress!" Rainbow complained. "You made us wait for nothing!"

"Are you kidding?" I asked. "Why does she have to change her dress to be even more beautiful?"

"Thank you. That means a lot."

Spike appeared out of nowhere. "This is all great, but if we don't get to the castle by six, we won't have enough time to do what we didn't get to do last time."

"Spike's right. Rarity, you have the same carriage and stallions from last year?"

Rarity nodded. "They should be ready by now."

"Alright, everypony. Let's try to make tonight… better than last time!" Twilight yelled.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

Man, I had no idea they put us much into these dances. This place is decked out! I looked around and saw Princess Celestia and Luna at the top of the stairs talking. I smile and walked up to them. Luna saw me coming and jumped for joy. "You decided to come!"

Princess Celestia nodded. "It's good to see you, Ozone."

"Same with you, princess. Is it true that the only thing you do is greet ponies all night?"

She smiled and nodded. "In reality, I really don't want to. I'd much rather be having fun."

Luna laughed. "And the best part is that I don't have to stay here."

"Okay, I'm gonna head back to the group now. I'll see you two later, right?" They nodded and I walked back to my herd of friends. I noticed Pinkie wasn't there. "Hey, where's Pinkie?"

They all looked around. "We don't know." Twilight said. "We thought she was here a second ago."

My eyes widened. "We're in trouble, aren't we?"

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Applebloom»

"So, that's the plan." Sweetie said. "Everypony on board?"

Scootaloo nodded. "It's pretty simple, actually. It's just the matter of whether or not it'll work."

I nodded. "So, how do ya suppose we get there?"

Scootaloo raised her hoof. "I have an idea! We could be ninjas!"

Sweetie and I look at each other and smiled. I turned to Pinkie. "Thanks for giving us all that extra information."

"No problem! I just really want this to work."

"We all do. Ready? Phase One is about to commence."

They nodded and we screamed "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MATCHMAKERS! YAY!"

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

It took almost an hour, but we made it into the castle. We took off our ninja costumes and replaced them with dresses. Sweetie looked at me. "Okay, Applebloom. Remember your lines?"

I nodded. "Don't worry. This is gonna work for sure." I gulped as I walked out of the bathroom an onto the dance floor. There were ponies everywhere, and they were all at least three times bigger than me. I made it to the orchestra of ponies in one piece. Alright, here goes nothin'. After they finished their song, I poked the pianist's leg. "'Scuse me, mister?"

He looked down at me. "Yes, little miss?"

"If at all possible, I would like to request a song."

He smiled. "I suppose you can. What song would you like us to play?"

"Actually, I would prefer it if I played it."

He raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

I scanned the mass of ponies until I found the two I was looking for. They were standing with their friends in the middle of the dance floor. I pointed to them. "You see those two ponies? The purple one and the tan one? My friends an' I are tryna set them up."

"And so, you want to personally deliver the message that you want them together?"

I nodded. "I just need your permission to put a spotlight on them. Will ya help me?"

He nodded. "I'll tell the other members."

I smiled. "Thank you, mister. I didn't even need to give you time to think. Why so quick to agree?"

"I'm always up for a little romance-making." With that, he got up and walked over to the other band members. As he was talking, he pointed to me a couple of times. The band players nodded and set down their instruments. I looked over at the bathrooms and saw Sweetie and Scootaloo standing in front of the door, looking at me. I nodded and they ran up next to me.

"Good job, Applebloom." Scootaloo said.

"Thanks. Now, go to that stallion over there and ask him where to get the spotlight." She nodded. "Alright, Sweetie. Remember the lyrics?"

She nodded. "Can't get them out of my head. It's a really sweet song."

"Phase Two has commenced."

POV Switch

«Applebloom—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

We weren't dancing, rather we were standing in the middle of the dance floor talking. It was boring, really. They didn't play songs I liked (probably because it was all classical). Big Macintosh ended up making an appearance. He and Fluttershy went off together at some point, and I haven't seen them since. The only problem I had was that I wasn't the one talking. I was just sort of standing there while Twilight talked to our friends. I gave up after a few minutes and sat down at an empty table. Sometimes, I hate being a stallion.

I think Pinkie saw me leave, because she sat right next to me. "What's wrong? Are we stealing Twilight from you?" I shrugged. "Sorry. It's just… you remember what we told you about last time. We just want to hang out. So come on, you should try to hang out with us! Do I need to give you the same talk you gave me?" I shook my head. "Then come on!" She grabbed my tail in her teeth and dragged me back to the group. She then threw me in the air and I landed on all fours. Ponies clapped at the performance. "Okay, he's back! Now, why don't we-" She was cut off by the lights going out. Ponies mumbled as the darkness continued. Finally, there was light. Well, more like a spotlight. Directed towards Twilight. And me. Only Twilight and I. Any other pony in the spotlight quickly left. The murmurs of confusion continued. There was another light, and this one was directed towards the stage, where two fillies and a piano were situated. One of the fillies was sitting on the piano while the other played it. I recognized the sitting filly as Sweetie Belle. I wasn't sure about the other one, but she sure knew how to play a piano.

The filly with the red bow in her hair stopped playing and Sweetie lifted the microphone and began to talk into it. "Hello, everypony! I hope you're enjoying this years Grand Galloping Gala!" An uproar of cheers came from the audience. "Well, the thing is, we have a problem. You see the two ponies under the spotlight? They were meant for each other, but they won't do anything about it. So me and my two best friends took it upon ourselves to bring them together." _Oh no._ "So, we came up with this plan to bring them together. Phase one was getting here. Phase Two was getting permission to do this. This is Phase three." She turned to the filly on the piano. "Ready, Applebloom?"

Applebloom nodded and began to play again.

_Oh no, I know this song. This is definitely a romantic kind of song._ I looked at Twilight and whispered "You know how to dance, right?" She shook her head. "Good, neither do I." I think somepony heard me, because I could feel a unicorn's magic flow through me. I picked Twilight's front legs up and we were both on our hind legs. She had her legs around my neck, while mine were around her waist. "I, uh… guess I'll lead."

Then Sweetie began to sing.

"_I still hear your voice,_

_When you sleep next to me._

_I still feel your touch,_

_In my dreams._

_Forgive me my weakness,_

_But I don't know why,_

_Without you it's hard to survive._"

We were basically walking circles around each other. _I don't know why ponies enjoy this._

"_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I get this feeling_

_And every time we kiss,_

_I swear I could fly_

_Can't you feel my heart beat fast,_

_I want this to last,_

_Need you by my side_

_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I feel the static,_

_And every time we kiss,_

_I reach for the sky,_

_Can't you hear my heart beat so_

_I can't let you go,_

_Want you in my life._"

_Okay, I'm starting to see why ponies like this so much._ I was staring into Twilight's eyes the entire time. She was also smiling, which made me smile.

"_Your arms are my castle,_

_Your heart is my sky._

_They wipe away tears that I cry_

_The good and the bad times,_

_We've been through them all._

_You make me rise when I fall._"

_Oh my gosh, I'm in heaven_. She rested her head on my chest. _If I dropped dead right now, I'd die a happy stallion._

"_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I get this feeling_

_And every time we kiss,_

_I swear I could fly_

_Can't you feel my heart beat fast,_

_I want this to last,_

_Need you by my side_

_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I feel the static,_

_And every time we kiss,_

_I reach for the sky,_

_Can't you hear my heart beat so,_

_I can't let you go,_

_Want you in my life._

"_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I get this feeling_

_And every time we kiss,_

_I swear I could fly,_

_Can't you feel my heart beat fast,_

_I want this to last,_

_Need you by my side_."

As the song finished, the lights came back on, and there was an uproar of applause. I set Twilight and I down and looked at all the approving faces. Among them, I happened to spot Colgate. She winked at me, and I nodded a "thank you." I looked at Twilight, and she was still smiling at me. I smiled back at her.

There was a loud screech from somewhere, and it made everypony duck. I guarded Twilight from the side the screech came from. As everypony ducked, I saw who made the screech. It was a black unicorn with a black mane and tail, and wore a mask. "Good evening, everypony," She practically screamed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Ozone, who is she?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen her without that mask."

"Oh, Ozone knows me quite well. But I guess it's hard to recognize me by my mask." And with that, she slowly slid off her mask, revealing a rather young face. When the mask left her face, she transformed. Her coat turned from black to lavender, and her mane spawned a neon green highlight. The mast hit the floor, and I gasped at who it was.

"Your the nurse from the hospital I was treated at!"

"Bravo, bravo! But I have a name, you know. It's Summer." She sighed. "I guess it was difficult to identify me earlier due to the fact I never talked to you at the hospital. But no matter, you know why I'm here."

I shook my head. "Why tonight? Why not tomorrow or something? I'm having the time of my life here!"

She looked over my shoulder. "Ah, so this is the mare you've been tripping over." She began to walk forward, the ponies in front of her immediately moving out of the way. "I must say, I've read up on you, Twilight Sparkle. Quite the catch you are."

"Shut up!" I screamed. "Can you just leave?"

"Now, why would I do that?" With every second she moved closer and closer, until we were only yards away from each other. "I'm here to finish what you started." She summoned her impossibly long sword and gripped in with her magic. There was then a white orb of magic around her horn. "This ends here, iX Ozone." She lunged towards me, launching the white ball at me, the sword pointed straight for my face.

There was an unbearable silence as nothing happened. I took a closer look at her, and realized she, along with the orb of magic, was frozen in mid air. I let down my guard and approached her. "What happened?"

"Over here." A voice called. I looked in its direction, and saw it was Colgate, standing up. "I froze everypony except for us and Twilight."

I turned around, and saw Twilight trembling where she stood. "Ozone…"

"I can't hold this spell forever. Well, I can, but I'd prefer if we wrapped this up kind of quick. Are you gonna run, or end it?"

I put my hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight, she's right. It has to end here."

I saw her eyes get red. "Please, don't go."

"Twilight, remember what you told me while we were listening to 'The Messenger' by Linkin Park? No matter what, I will always be with you. Even if I don't come back, I'll still be with you. You've been a great friend, Twilight," I hugged her. "Thank you." I turned to Colgate. "Get her out of here. I don't want her getting hurt."

Colgate nodded and wrapped Twilight in a hug. "Come on, it'll be okay." She faced me. "Once I teleport out of here, the spell will immediately be broken. Are you ready?"

I turned to face Summers and nodded. "I'm ready." I heard Twilight begin to cry, but the sound of teleportation took it away. The white orb of magic suddenly began to move towards me again. _No turning back_. I let it hit me. It didn't hurt at all. In fact, I think all it did was surround me.

I was suddenly in a white room, but the room was so big I would have mistaken it for space. I was on a solid ground, though. I looked around, and noticed Summers standing in front of me at a respectable distance. She had no weapon, and she looked… sad? "Where are we?" I asked.

"That spell was a teleportation spell. We are in a completely different dimension here. Here, there is no blood. If one of us is going to lose, I don't want it to be because of blood loss. I wanted to do this right." She took a step forward. "Ozone, I do consider you my equal. Not on a scale of power, though. I am sure you are far more powerful than I. No, I'm talking about an emotional scale." Another step. "I feel as though we could have been great friends if the circumstances were different. But I'm afraid," She stopped inches from my face. "this is it, the end of the line. This is the final stand. No holding back. I want you to come at me as hard as you can with every ounce of your strength." She then went back to her original standing point. "Now, chose a weapon. I'll spawn you the weapon of your choosing I'd get the Oblivion. See how that works?"

I nodded then looked down in thought. "Okay, I choose the Fusion Swords."

"Going with Final Fantasy? Alright." She spawned the in front of me and I grabbed it with my mouth. She spawned Sephiroth's sword. "And because I want this to be fair, I'll hold it in my mouth like you." She bit down on the handle. "Ready?"

I nodded. We both charged each other and clashed swords. The final fight had begun.

POV Switch

«Ozone—§ OUT

IN §—Twilight»

I only felt like crying at this point. Colgate was holding me as we sat outside the castle gates. She kept stroking my mane and reassuring me, saying everything was going to be okay. I wanted to believe her, but something inside told me something would go wrong.

"Come on, Twilight." She picked me up so we were face-to-face. "I know how much of a crush you have on the guy. But crying isn't gonna being him back."

"Colgate, I don't have a crush on him."

"Oh, please, stop denying-"

"I'm in love with him."

"Really? Oh, well that's completely different than a crush. But either way, you just have to wait it out and hope for the best. I've been in your situation with a really good friend of mine countless times. He always came back in the end. I'm sure Ozone will, too."

I wiped my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, your fine. Now come on, let's get back to the castle. I don't hear anything going on, so they must have teleported away."

I nodded and got off of her. She smiled at me, and we walked side-by-side into the castle.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

Colgate was right; they teleported away. There was only a slight crater in the tile, and a bunch of confused ponies surrounding it. I scanned the masses until I found my friends. I squeezed my way through the crowd and finally reached them. I went specifically to Rainbow. "Rainbow…"

She looked at me. "What?"

I pointed towards the rest of our friends, who looked about ready to cry. "You don't seem the least but shaken by this."

"I'm sorry, it's an old habit to hide my emotions. I'm really close to crying right now." She looked at the crater. "Twilight… I'm scared. I'm scared I might never see him again. He's had such a huge impact on my life, I don't want that taken away."

I hugged her. "None of us do. He's affected all of us in one way or another. But you just have to wait it out and hope for the best."

"Twilight, does that mean it's okay to cry?"

"Of course. Here's my shoulder." She smiled and started to cry onto my shoulder. We got some looks from ponies around the room, but they were sad looks. Looks as if they knew what we were going through.

"Twilight, he was the best brother anypony could ask for! I just want to see him again!"

I stroked her mane. "Shh, it's okay. We all want to see him. Why don't we sit down somewhere, okay?"

She nodded and we found an empty table to sit down at. She was silent. She then felt something tugging her wing, and looked at it. It was Scootaloo. "Hi, Rainbow Dash."

She somewhat smiled. "Hey, kid. What's up?"

"Nothing much."

"Hey, Scootaloo?" I got her attention. "I just wanted to say thank you. For that dance with Ozone. You have no idea how much that meant to me."

"I think I do. But anyways, I just wanted to come and see how Rainbow Dash was taking this. I heard her crying earlier and I got worried."

Rainbow picked her up and hugged her. "Thanks. That means a lot."

I smiled at the scene. Colgate's right. Waiting is the only thing I can do. _Just be safe, Ozone. I need you_.

POV Switch

«Twilight—§ OUT

IN §—Ozone»

We clashed swords again and again. She definitely knew how to use her sword. Our swords met in the middle, and we were at a standstill. We stared at each other as we tried to force each other to give. We jumped away from each other. We stared at each other again. She dashed quickly towards me. I was ready to guard, when she disappeared. I turned around, and she was there. Our swords clashed, but she pushed me back quite a far distance. I was knocked into the air and she followed me up. She sliced at me, but I used my sword to block it. It sent me backwards, but we were still airborne. I deflected attack after attack, until one pushed me back onto the ground. I landed on all fours, as did she. I could see she was getting exhausted. We've only been fighting for a few minutes, but it feels like hours.

"Time moves differently in this dimension." She said. "Seconds here are like minutes, maybe even hours, in our dimension."

"I guess that means we should finish this quickly. I wouldn't want to keep anypony waiting."

She smiled and jumped into the air. I stayed on the ground. She turned her neck, pulling her sword back. I got into a ready position. _Okay, just like with my wing. I have to time it just right._ She was closing the gap between us pretty fast. _Almost there._ She was her was her sword's length away from me, as I saw her begin to slash at me. _Now!_ My sword connected with hers, and she was at just the right angle. I gave it all I had, and before a fraction of a second had even passed, I pushed her backwards. She went flying in the other direction. I spread my wing, completely ruining the tuxedo, and followed her. We were still in mid air, flying at incredible speeds, and we continued to fight. Attack after attack was blocked, and every attempt she made to distance herself from me was futile as I kept up with her. I felt us start to slow in speed and decided to act quickly. I deflected her attack and used my shoulder to push her down into the ground. She didn't have enough time to react, and she was sent flipping on the ground. When she finally stopped, I remained in the air. She jumped at me again, this time a lot faster. I tried blocking, but she ended up behind me and slashed me, too quickly for me to react. Off guard, I took hit after hit. She was right, there was no blood, but the pain was definitely still there. I didn't count how many times it was, but it felt like forever. With one last hit, I was thrown to the ground. I made a loud thud when I hit, and I could feel the ground crack from the impact. I had a hard time getting up. I let go of my sword. It hurt to move, but I had to get up. I wasn't about to call it quits.

"Tired already?" She asked, suspended in air.

I shook my head. I grunted as I used my right forelimb to at least get me started. Then it was the left, and soon I was on all fours again. It hurt to stand, but I didn't care. I picked up my sword again and looked at her. I then closed my eyes and concentrated. _Come on, just like in the video game._ _Work…_ Just then, I could feel something in my sword. It felt like energy, power. I opened my eyes and saw that my sword was covered in a black aura. _Yes!_ I looked back at Summer. I flapped my wing as hard as I could, and my sword connected with Summer's. We stayed there, suspended in air. My sword then split itself into six different swords, all glowing black. This caused Summer to lose her grip on her sword and she watched it fall to the ground. We made eye contact and I saw her expression.

Scared.

I felt myself become submerged by the electric blue aura. I then used my wing to launch myself at one of my swords. I grabbed it in my mouth and charged Summer. Without any means of defense, she had no choice but to take it. The sword made contact with her left side, and burst into sparkles after it did. I went on to the next sword and did the same thing, except hitting her right side. The sword burst, and Summer began to spin rapidly. I went on to my next sword, and just slashed her, not knowing where. The same thing happened with the next one. With the fifth sword, I got her to stop spinning. She was facing upwards, towards my last sword. I went up to it and grabbed it. I shot down towards Summer as fast as I took off. Instead of slashing her, however, I threw the sword at her. I was heading straight for her, sharp end facing her. She let out a cry of terror as the sword came crashing through her stomach. From the angle I was, it looked like the sword went through her. But I knew it just faded into sparkles as it came into contact with her, giving the illusion it went through her. When the sword hit her, there was a large burst of energy. I was launched upwards, but felt myself falling at an alarming rate. I hit the ground harder than I did when Summer threw me. I had blacked out for a few seconds.

When I opened my eyes, I was taken by surprise by what I saw. We weren't in that white dimension anymore. We were on a beach, under a starlit night. The sparkles of my swords were raining down on me. I gazed up in awe.

Then the pain started to kick in. And I could feel blood. I had forgotten how we weren't in that dimension anymore, so I was bleeding from all my cuts. I looked around and gasped at what I saw.

Summer was lying motionless, the ground around her a puddle of blood. I was dizzy, but I ran over to her and lifted her head up. "Summer?" I shook her. No response. "Summer, answer me!"

She coughed up blood. "It… Looks like it's the end. You… win."

"You're dying!"

"Yes, that's what happens… after taking a sword to the stomach. And the rest of you." She tried to laugh, but coughed up more blood. She had blood trickling out of her mouth, as well as all the wounds I caused. I started to cry.

"Summer, I'm sorry!" I hugged her.

She tried her best to hug me back. Her arms were so weak, they felt like feathers. "I know. But… you had to do this. You didn't… have a choice. I had to be stopped."

"It didn't have to end like this, though."

"It didn't. But… I wanted it to. I wanted to feel… the pain I put Rainbow Dash and her parents through. I… deserve this."

"Nopony, no matter how sick or twisted, deserves this."

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm nopony." She went into another coughing fit. "Listen, there's something you need to know." I nodded and pulled my face closer to hers. "The reason we reverted you back into a foal… the reason you got your new life… it was me. If we had gone with our original plan, you would have been about fifteen years older and roaming around like a lost puppy with rabies. I reverted you back to a colt… so that you'd have the chance to start over… a fresh start. If I didn't do that, you'd have such a difficult time adjusting to the new world. It would have driven you mad with the mind you had. I gave you a new life… a new mind. I… I was thinking about you from the very beginning." She smiled a sad smile. "I'll be gone soon." She lifted her hoof and it started to glow. I looked at what she was doing. She was opening up a portal. "That should take you back to our dimension. Going through that portal will heal all your wounds. Go… I can't keep this open forever." I looked at her, she was crying. It was one of the most heartbreaking things I had ever seen. I had no other choice. I picked her up and stood on my hind legs. I then jumped into the portal, holding Summer. "Ozone… what did you do that for?"

"I'm not letting you die. You said we'd be great friends if it were different circumstances. Well, the fight is over and I won. There's nothing stopping us from being friends. And that means there's no way I'm gonna let you die."

She hugged me and cried onto me. "I'm so sorry."

I held her tighter. "You've paid enough of a price. Just try to rest. Let the portal heal your wounds."

And that's just what the portal did. Our wounds started to glow green, and within minutes we were good as new. I set Summers down next to me. She smiled up at me. "Thank you, for giving me a second chance."

"Don't get all sappy on me now. Look," I pointed in from of me. "there's the exit. Ready?"

She nodded. We then ran towards it and jumped.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

We landed with a thud in a grassy field. Summer had ended up landing on me, and she got up. I got up as well and looked around. There were flowers everywhere. It was almost like the Equestrian outskirts, except there was a small house in the distance. "We should go see who's there and ask them what day it is." Summer suggested. I nodded and we started walking towards the house.

When we arrived on the porch, I knocked on the door three times. A brown stallion whose height and build was almost equivalent to mine answered. "Hello. Is there anything I can assist you with?"

"Yes, there is actually. What's today?" Summer asked.

"Why, it's July the third."

"Okay, and just where are we?" I asked.

"You're about a day's walk from Canterlot. Just go north and you'll get there." He said with a nod.

"Thank you, sir. We'll be on our way." And with that, we headed north towards Canterlot. _We've been gone for a month and a half._

As we walked, she spoke of a definitely concerning thought that crossed her mind. "Wait, what will your friends reaction be to you befriending your sister's parents' murderer?"

I thought about it and shrugged. "They aren't real friends if they can't forgive and forget."

"Well, yes, but this isn't something you can just forgive and forget. I'm afraid they'll drive me out of town."

"If they do, I'll follow you."

"What about Twilight?"

"Relationships come and go, but friendships are forever. If she can't accept the fact that we're friends, then that's her problem."

"Ozone, you do realize your putting everything you hold dear to you on the line just for the sake of our friendship, right?" I nodded. "And that doesn't bother you one bit?" I shook my head. We were silent from that point on.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

It did take about a day, but we made it to Canterlot. We walked towards the castle. There were the usual guard ponies standing in front of the door. One of them was Hawkeye. I spread my wing and winked at Hawkeye. They let me in without any form of communication. I led Summer to the kitchen, and asked the staff if they could feed her while I talked to Princess Celestia. They agreed and I went to Princess Celestia's quarters.

I knocked on the door three times, and the door opened. Luna tackled me to the ground. She was kissing me all over my face and hugging me tightly. "Big sister, it's Ozone!"

I pried Luna off of me and stood straight up as Princess Celestia approached me. She smiled. "Welcome back."

"It's good to be back, princess. Now, there's a troubling matter I need to address. Is it okay if we talk about this in the kitchen?"

The princesses raised an eyebrow, but agreed.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"I can see what kind of trouble you were talking about." Princess Celestia smiled. "You're digging into those garden salads like there's no tomorrow."

"And that's your tenth one!" Luna commented.

"Yes, but this isn't what I was talking about." I gestured towards the mare sitting next to me, doing the same thing. "Do you know who this is?" They shook their heads. "This is the mare behind the mask."

Princess Celestia's eyes widened. "You brought her into the castle? How could you?"

"Please, let me explain. She told me all she wanted to do at this point was to hurt like Rainbow Dash's parents. She did, and she said that was it. I brought her back here because everypony deserves a second chance. And to also say that if you get rid of her, you're getting rid of me as well."

Luna stood up. "Ozone, you can't be-"

"Oh, but I am." The table was silent after that. Luna sat down. "I'm sorry you have to make this choice, but she's my friend now. If she isn't happy, I'm not happy."

Princess Celestia nodded and walked out. Luna stood up. "I don't know what that means, but if you really trust her, then I trust her."

"So she can stay?" Luna nodded. I started jumping for joy. I grabbed Summer and started spinning her around. Luna was laughing along with us.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

"You had enough to eat?" One chef asked.

"Yes, thank you very much." Luna nodded and showed us out of the castle.

We passed the gates, but Summer and Luna stopped dead in their tracks. I turned to them. They were looking at the sky. _Why are they looking at the sky?_ I was about to ask them, but I heard an all to familiar voice scream "Ozone!" I looked up and saw a hot air balloon heading towards us. And hanging off the side, waving and hollering, was Twilight. My heart skipped a beat as she continued to scream my name. She then jumped out of the balloon. She landed effortlessly and ran as fast as she could towards me. We collided in a tight hug, her crying on my chest and me stroking her mane. "Ozone, your back! I missed you so much. You have no idea how worried I was."

I began to cry as well. "Twilight, I missed you, too." I let go of her and stared into her eyes. She smiled at me, I smiled back. What happened next nearly gave me a heart attack.

Twilight kissed me. On the lips. The kiss wasn't special because it was the fact that Twilight kissed me. It was the fact that this was my very first kiss, and I was sharing it with Twilight. Her eyes were closed, I closed mine as I kissed back. There wasn't any tongue or anything like that, it was a simple kiss, but it meant so much more to me than that. I don't know how long it lasted, I didn't care. Twilight was kissing me.

The sound of ponies cheering startled both of us out of the kiss. Twilight turned around and I looked over her shoulder. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were all standing in front of the hot air balloon, cheering loudly. I looked back at Twilight. She looked back at me. Everypony went silent.

"Twilight?"

"Yeah?"

For some reason, I still felt the need to hesitate. I swear, if you don't do this now it will be the end of everything. I smiled and said, "I love you."

There was an uproar of "d'awwww"s from everypony. Twilight looked around and then looked at me. She smiled and kissed me on the lips again. "I love you, too."

The cheering commenced again. I turned around and saw Princess Celestia standing in between Luna and Summer. She was smiling wider than I had ever seen before. She wiped her eye. I smiled to her, she nodded back. Words could not describe the emotions going through my head at that moment. I looked at everypony. I scanned everypony's faces, and they were all happy. This made me smile even wider.

Princess Celestia approaches us. "Congratulations, you two. What are you going to do now?"

Twilight and I looked at each other.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

Flying at top speeds has never been a problem for me. In fact, it's pretty fun. The wind in my mane, speeds so fast my eyes water up, being just a blur to my surroundings. How could it get any better, you ask? Well, how about the fact that the love of my life is on my back, cheering loudly along with me? I'd call that a victory.

"Ozone, this is amazing!" Twilight kissed my cheek.

"Oh, you think this is amazing? How about we try to do something a little more extreme. Like, say… break the sound barrier?"

She patted my head. "Let's go for it!"

"Okay, then. Hold on tight!" I flapped my wing as fast as I could, propelling us forward at sonic speeds. I saw they funnel appear in front of me, and I closed my eyes. Here it goes! One last flap of my wing and I felt the funnel burst. Twilight, basically choking me, held on for dear life as we created a sparkling black and purple trail into the sunset.

/.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./.-./

Dear Princess Celestia,

You know I'm not stupid, right? I know the real reason you sent me to Ponyville. I've known this entire time. Thank you for doing it. For sending me to Twilight, and for sending her that letter letting her know I came back. If you hadn't, I wouldn't be as happy as I am now. I know Twilight's just as happy.

Hi, princess, it's Twilight! I agree with Ozone, you did set all this up. But it's okay. You know why? Because I'm the happiest I've ever been. We love each other, and it wouldn't have happened without you. I'm giving the letter back to Ozone now.

Really, all I can say is thank you. You'll also be happy to hear Summer has found a home in Ponyville and is extremely happy everypony took her in so quickly. In addition, I would like to personally invite you to her welcome party.

Expecting a visit,

iX Ozone.

The end.

**Credits**

**Production**  
>Author – me (hauntednunchucks)<br>Editors – a few bronies and pegasisters friends in real life

**Music**  
>"The Messenger" – © 2010 Linkin Park<br>"Lost In Paradise" – © 2011 Evanescence  
>"Broken" – © 2004 Seether and Amy Lee<br>"Everytime We Touch (Slow Version)" – © 2005 Cascada

**Author's note: And there we go! How was that for a sappy ending? I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I just want to thank everybody who stuck with this story even though it kind of sucked in some places. Well, since you're reading this, I guess that means it didn't suck as bad I thought it would! That's always a good thing. I also want to thank all of my friends out in the real world for supporting and helping me while I wrote this. Also, listening to "Krwlng" by Linkin Park while writing this made me type **_**a lot**_** faster. It sounds like an epic ending theme to me, and I in the end I spawned this chapter. **

**In case you were all "Oh, come on! That can't be the end!" Not to worry; I have a few alternate endings that might have been real endings if I didn't want to further this series or make it go in a direction I didn't want it to go in.**

**And yeah, at some point I will start a sequel. It's going to go on a completely different rail this one was on (meaning it's not going to be centered around romance AT ALL). Can't wait to figure out where I'm going to go with that. It's also going to have a guest author! It's no one famous, just one of my pegasisters. I also kind of starting writing ahead… like, _really_ far ahead. So the only thing I really have to do for it is come up with the stuff in the middle. Again, can't wait to see how that works out.**

**I know there are still many questions to answer, like "What's this about Ozone's true past?" I didn't want to explain everything right away because I'll be making an entire fanfic about it. You'll just have to wait because I won't release it until the series is over (sorry). The first chapter of the prequel explaining his childhood will be released in about one to two weeks. Once the prologue is done, I plan on starting my work on the sequel.**

**I've also got an idea for another pony fiction. This one's going to be an Uncharted 3 type story, and all OC's. I'll post the first chapter once it's done, and you tell me what you think by reviewing it. 'Kay? 'Kay.**

**TL, DR; THIS STORY IS NOT OVER! You can definitely expect some more from this story and this author. Hope you continue to read my works!**


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